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MR.   THOREAU'S    WRITINGS, 


Cape  Cod, 

1  vol.     16mo. 

The  Maine  Woods. 

1  vol.     16mo. 

Excursions, 

1  vol.     16mo. 

Walden,  or  Life  in  the  Woods, 

1  vol.     16mo. 

A  Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merrimack, 

1  vol.     12rao. 


TICKNOR  AND   FIELDS,    Publishers. 


CAPE   COD. 


BY 


HENRY    D.    THOREAU, 

AUTHOR  OF  "  A  WEEK  ON  THB  CONCORD  AND   MERRIMACK  RIVERS," 

"WALDEN,"   "excursions,"   "  THB  MAINE  WOODS," 

ETC.,    ETC 


Principium  erit  mirari  omnia,  etiam  tritissima. 

Medium  est  calamo  committere  visa  et  utilia. 

Finis  erit  naturam  adcuratius  adlineare,  quam  alius  [si  possumus]. 

Linnaeus  <U  Pertgrinatione, 


BOSTON: 
TICKNOR    AND    FIELDS. 

1865. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

TICKNOR     AND     FIELDS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


University  Press: 

Welch,    Bigelow,    and   Company, 

Cambridge. 


CONTENTS 


PAQB 

I.    The  Shipwreck 1 

n.    Stage-coach  Views 16 

in.    The  Plaiks  of  Nauset 27 

rv.    The  Beach 51 

V.  The  Wellflebt  OrsTERMAN  ....      72 

VI.    The  Beach  again 93 

Vil.    Across  the  Cafe 118 

Vni.    The  Highland  Light 138 

IX.  The  Sea  and  the  Desert       .        .        .        .163 

X.    Provincetown 196 


CAP  E    C  O  D 


THE    SHIPWRECK. 

Wishing  to  get  a  better  view  than  I  had  yet  had  of 
the  ocean,  which,  we  are  told,  covers  more  than  two 
thirds  of  the  globe,  but  of  which  a  man  who  lives  a  few 
miles  inland  may  never  see  any  trace,  more  than  of  an- 
other world,  I  made  a  visit  to  Cape  Cod  in  October, 
1849,  another  the  succeeding  June,  and  another  to  Truro 
in  July,  1855  ;  the  first  and  last  time  with  a  single  com- 
panion, the  second  time  alone.  I  have  spent,  in  all, 
about  three  weeks  on  the  Cape ;  walked  from  Eastham 
to  Provincetown  twice  on  the  Atlantic  side,  and  once 
on  the  Bay  side  also,  excepting  four  or  five  miles,  and 
crossed  the  Cape  half  a  dozen  times  on  my  way ;  but 
having  come  so  fresh  to  the  sea,  I  have  got  but  little 
salted.  My  readers  must  expect  only  so  much  saltness 
as  the  land  breeze  acquires  from  blowing  over  an  arm 
of  the  sea,  or  is  tasted  on  the  windows  and  the  bark  of 
trees  twenty  miles  inland,  after  September  gales.  I  have 
been  accustomed  to  make  excursions  to  the  ponds  within 
ten  miles  of  Concord,  but  latterly  I  have  extended  my 
excursions  to  the  sea-shore. 

I  did  not  see  why  I  might  not  make  a  book  on  Cape 
1  ▲ 


2.  CAPE  COD. 

Cod,  as  well  as  my  neighbor  on  "  Human  Culture."  It 
is  but  another  name  for  the  same  thing,  and  hardly  a 
sandier  phase  of  it.  As  for  my  title,  I  suppose  that  the 
word  Cape  is  from  the  French  cap  ;  which  is  from  the 
Latin  caput,  a  head ;  which  is,  perhaps,  from  the  verb 
capere,  to  take,  —  that  being  the  part  by  which  we  take 
hold  of  a  thing:  —  Take  Time  by  the  forelock.  It  is  also 
the  safest  part  to  take  a  serpent  by.  And  as  for  Cod, 
that  was  derived  directly  from  that  "  great  store  of  cod- 
fish "  which  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold  caught  there 
in  1602 ;  which  fish  appears  to  have  been  so  called  from 
the  Saxon  word  codde,  "a  case  in  which  seeds  are 
lodged,"  either  from  the  form  of  the  fish,  or  the  quantity 
of  spawn  it  contains;  whence  also,  perhaps,  codling 
{^'pomum  coctile"?)  and  coddle,  —  to  cook  green  like 
peas.     (V.  Die.) 

Cape  Cod  is  the  bared  and  bended  arm  of  Massachu- 
setts :  the  shoulder  is  at  Buzzard's  Bay ;  the  elbow,  or 
crazy-bone,  at  Cape  Mallebarre;  the  wrist  at  Truro; 
and  the  sandy  fist  at  Provincetown,  —  behind  which  the 
State  stands  on  her  guard,  with  her  back  to  the  Green 
Mountains,  and  her  feet  planted  on  the  floor  of  the  ocean, 
like  an  athlete  protecting  her  Bay,  —  boxing  with  north- 
east storms,  and,  ^ver  and  anon,  heaving  up  her  Atlantic 
adversary  from  the  lap  of  earth, — ready  to  thrust  forward 
her  other  fist,  which  keeps  guard  the  while  upon  her 
breast  at  Cape  Ann. 

On  studying  the  map,  I  saw  that  there  must  be  an  un- 
interrupted beach  on  the  east  or  outside  of  the  fore-arm 
of  the  Cape,  more  than  thirty  jniles  from  the  general  line 
of  the  coast,  which  would  afford  a  good  sea  view,  but 
that,  on  account  of  an  opening  in  the  beach,  forming  the 
entrance  to  Nauset  Harbor,  in  Orleans,  I  must  strike  it 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  3 

in  Eastham,  if  I  approached  it  by  land,  and  probably  I 
could  walk  thence  straight  to  Race  Point,  about  twenty- 
eight  milejj,  and  not  meet  with  any  obstruction. 

We  left  Concord,  Massachusetts,  on  Tuesday,  October 
9th,  1849.  On  reaching  Boston,  we  found  that  the  Prov- 
incetown  steamer,  which  should  have  got  in  the  day 
before,  had  not  yet  arrived,  on  account  of  a  violent 
storm ;  and,  as  we  noticed  in  the  streets  a  handbill 
headed,  "  Death !  one  hundred  and  forty-five  lives 
lost  at  Cohasset,"  we  decided  to  go  by  way  of  Cohasset. 
We  found  many  Irish  in  the  cars,  going  to  identify  bodies 
and  to  sympathize  with  the  survivors,  and  also  to  attend 
the  funeral  which  was  to  take  place  in  the  afternoon ;  — 
and  when  we  arrited  at  Cohasset,  it  appeared  that  nearly 
all  the  passengers  were  bound  for  the  beach,  which  was 
about  a  mile  distant,  and  many  other  persons  were  flock- 
ing in  from  the  neighbormg  country.  '  There  were  sev- 
eral hundreds  of  them  streaming  off  over  Cohasset  com- 
mon in  that  direction,  some  on  foot  and  some  in  wagons, 
—  and  among  them  were  some  sportsmen  in  their  hunt- 
ing-jackets, with  their  guns,  and  game-bags,  and  dogs. 
As  we  passed  the  graveyard  we  saw  a  large  hole,  like  a 
cellar,  freshly  dug  there,  and,  just  before  reaching  the 
shore,  by  a  pleasantly  winding  and  rocky  road,  we  met 
several  hay-riggings  and  farm-wagons  coming  away  to- 
ward the  meeting-house,  each  loaded  with  three  large, 
rough  deal  boxes.  We  did  not  need  to  ask  what  was  in 
them.  The  owners  of  the  wagons  were  made  the  under- 
takers. Many  horses  in  carriages  were  fastened  to  the 
fences  near  the  shore,  and,  for  a  mile  or  more,  up  and 
down,  the  beach  was  covered  with  people  looking  out  for 
bodies,  and  examining  the  fragments  of  the  wreck. 
There  was  a  small  island  called  Brook  Island,  with  a 


4  CAPE  COD. 

hut  on  it,  lying  just  off  the  shore.  This  is  said  to  be  the 
rockiest  shore  in  Massachusetts,  from  Nantasket  to  Scit- 
uate, —  hard  sienitic  rocks,  which  the  waves  have  laid 
bare,  but  have  not  been  able  to  crumble.  It  has  been 
the  scene  of  many  a  shipwreck. 

The  brig  St.  John,  from  Galway,  Ireland,  laden  with 
emigrants',  was  wrecked  on  Sunday  morning;  it  was 
now  Tuesday  morning,  and  the  sea  was  still  breaking 
violently  on  the  rocks.  There  were  eighteen  or  twenty 
of  the  same  large  boxes  that  I  have  mentioned,  lying  on 
a  green  hill-side,  a  few  rods  from  the  water,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd.  The  bodies  which  had  been  recov- 
ered, twenty-seven  or  eight  in  all,  had  been  collected 
there.  Some  were  rapidly  nailing  down  the  lids,  others 
were  carting  the  boxes  away,  and  others  were  lifting  the 
lids,  which  were  yet  loose,  and  peeping  under  the  cloths, 
for  each  body,  with  such  rags  as  still  adhered  to  it,  was 
covered  loosely  with  a  white  sheet.  I  witnessed  no  signs 
of  grief,  but  there  was  a  sober  despatch  of  business  which 
was  affecting.  One  man  was  seeking  to  identify  a  par- 
ticular body,  and  one  undertaker  or  carpenter  was  call- 
ing to  another  to  know  in  what  box  a  certain  child  was 
put.  I  saw  many  marble  feet  and  matted  heads  as  the 
cloths  were  raised,  and  one  livid,  swollen,  and  mangled 
body  of  a  drowned  girl,  —  who  probably  had  intended  to 
go  out  to  service  in  some  American  family,  —  to  which 
some  rags  still  adhered,  with  a  string,  half  concealed  by 
the  flesh,  about  its  swollen  neck ;  the  coiled-up  wreck  of 
a  human  hulk,  gashed  by  the  rocks  or  fishes,  so  that  the 
bone  and  muscle  were  expo?ed,  but  quite  bloodless,  — 
merely  red  and  white,  —  with  wide-open  and  staring 
eyes,  yet  lustreless,  dead-lights ;  or  like  the  cabin  win- 
dows of  a  stranded  vessel,  filled  with  sand.     Sometimes 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  5 

there  were  two  or  more  children,  or  a  parent  and  child, 
in  the  .same  box,  and  on  the  lid  would  perhaps  be  writ- 
ten with  red  chalk,  "  Bridget  sueh-a-one,  and  sister's 
child."  The  surrounding  sward  was  covered  with  bits 
of  sails  and  clothing.  I  have  since  heard,  from  one  who 
lives  by  this  bejich,  that  a  woman  who  had  come  over 
before,  but  had  left  her  infant  behind  for  her  sister  to 
bring,  came  and  looked  into  these  boxes,  and  saw  in 
one,  —  probably  the  same  whose  superscription  I  have 
quoted,  —  her  child  in  her  sister's  amis,  as  if  the  sister 
had  meant  to  be  found  thus;  and  within  three  days 
after,  the  mother  died  from  the  effect  of  that  sight. 

We  turned  from  this  and  walked  along  the  rocky 
shore.  In  the  first  cove  were  strewn  what  seemed  the 
fragments  of  a  vessel,  in  small  pieces  mixed  with  sand 
and  sea-weed,  and  great  quantities  of  feathers;  but  it 
looked  so  old  and  rusty,  that  I  at  first  took  it  to  be 
some  old  wreck  which  had  lain  there  many  years.  I 
even  thought  of  Captain  Kidd,  and  that  the  feathers 
were  those  which  sea-fowl  had  cast  there ;  and  perhaps 
there  might  be  some  tradition  about  it  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. I  asked  a  sailor  if  that  was  the  St.  John.  He 
said  it  was.  I  a-^ked  him  where  she  struck.  He  pointed 
to  a  rock  in  front  of  us,  a  mile  from  the  shore,  called  the 
Grampus  Rock,  and  added :  — 

"  You  can  see  a  part  of  her  now  sticking  up ;  it  looks 
like  a  small  boat." 

I  saw  it.  It  was  thought  to  be  held  by  the  chain- 
cables  and  the  anchors.  I  asked  if  the  bodies  which 
I  saw  were  all  that  were  drowned. 

"  Not  a  quarter  of  them,"  said  he. 

"  Where  arc  the  rest  ?  " 

"  Most  of  them  right  underneath  that  piece  you  see." 


6  CAPE   COD. 

It  appeared  to  U3  that  there  was  enough  rubbish  to 
make  the  wreck  of  a  large  vessel  in  this  cove  alone,  and 
that  it  would  take  many  days  to  cart  i^  off.  It  was  sev- 
eral ft^t  deep,  and  here  and  there  was  a  bonnet  or  a 
jacket  on  it  In  the  very  midst  of  the  crowd  about  this 
wreck,  there  were  men  with  carts  busily  collecting  the 
sea-weed  which  the  storm  had  cast  up,  and  conveying  it 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  tide,  though  they  were  often 
obliged  to  separate  fragments  of  clothing  from  it,  and 
they  might  at  any  moment  have  found  a  human  body 
under  it.  Drown  who  might,  they  did  not  forget  that 
this  weed  was  a  valuable  manure.  This  shipwreck 
had  not  produced  a  visible  vibration  in  the  fabric  of 
society. 

About  a  mile  south  we  could  ^ee,  rising  above  the 
rocks,  the  masts  of  the  British  brig  which  the  St.  John 
had  endeavored  to  follow,  which  had  slipped  her  cables, 
and,  by  good  luck,  run  into  the  mouth  of  Cohasset  Har- 
bor. A  little  further  along  the  shore  we  saw  a  man's 
clothes  on  a  rock  ;  further,  a  woman's  scarf,  a  gown,  a 
straw  bonnet,  the  brig's  caboose,  and  one  of  her  masts 
high  and  dry,  broken  into  several  pieces.  In  another 
rocky  cove,  several  rods  from  the  water,  and  behind 
rocks  twenty  feet  high,  lay  a  part  of  one  side  of  the  ves- 
sel, still  hanging  together.  It  was,  perhaps,  forty  feet 
long,  by  fourteen  wide.  I  was  even  more  surprised  at  the 
power  of  the  waves,  exhibited  on  this  shattered  fragment, 
than  I  had  been  at  the  sight  of  the  smaller  fragments  be- 
fore. The  largest  timbers  and  iron  braces  were  broken 
superfluously,  and  I  saw  that  no  material  could  with- 
stand the  power  of  the  waves;  that  iron  must  go  to 
pieces  in  such  a  case,  and  an  iron  vessel  would  be  cracked 
up  like  an  egg-shell  on  the  rocks.     Some  of  these  tim- 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  7 

bers,  however,  were  so  rotten  that  I  could  almost  thrust 
my  umbreUa  through  them.  They  told  us  that  some 
were  saved  on  this  piece,  and  also  showed  where  the  sea 
had  heaved  it  into  this  cove,  which  was  now  dry.  When 
I  saw  where  it  had  come  in,  and  in  what  condition,  I 
wondered  that  any  had  been  saved  on  it.  A  httle  fur- 
ther on  a  crowd  of  men  was  collected  around  the  m:itc 
of  the  St.  John,  who  was  -felling  his  story.  He  was  a 
slim-looking  youth,  who  spoke  of  the  captain  as  the  mas- 
ter, and  seemed  a  little  excited.  He  was  saying  that 
when  they  jumped  into  the  boat,  she  filled,  and,  the  ves- 
sel lurching,  the  weight  of  the  wat^r  in  the  boat  caused 
the  painter  to  break,  and  so  they  were  separated. 
Whereat  one  man  came  away,  saying:  — 

"Well,  I  don't  see  but  he  tells  a  sti^aight  story 
enough.  You  see,  the  weight  of  the  water  in  the  boat 
broke  the  painter.  A  boat  full  of  water  is  very 
heavy,"  —  and  so  on,  in  a  loud  and  impertinently 
earnest  tone,  as  if  he  had  a  bet  depending  on  it,  but 
had   no   humane   interest   in   the  matter. 

Another,  a  large  man,  stood  near  by  upon  a  rock, 
gazing  into  the  sea,  and  chewing  large  quids  of  tobacco, 
as  if  that  habit  were  forever  confirmed  with  him. 

"  Come,**  says  another  to  his  companion,  "  let 's  be  off. 
We  *ve  seen  the  whole  of  it.  It 's  no  use  to  stay  to  the 
funeral." 

Further,  we  saw  one  standing  upon  a  rock,  who,  we 
were  told,  was  one  that  was  saved.  He  was  a  sober- 
looking  man,  dressed  in  a  jacket  and  gray  pantaloons, 
with  his  hands  in  the  pockets.  I  asked  him  a  few  ques- 
tions, which  he  answered ;  but  he  seemed  unwilling  to 
talk  about  it,  and  soon  walked  away.  By  his  side  stood 
one  of  the  life-boat  men,  in  an  oil-cloth  jacket,  who  told 


8  CAPE  COD. 

US  how  thoy  went  to  the  relief  of  the  British  brig,  think- 
ing that  the  boat  of  the  St.  John,  which  they  passed  on 
the  way,  held  all  her  crew,  —  for  the  waves  prevented 
their  seeing  those  who  were  on  the  vessel,  though  they 
might  have  saved  some  had  they  known  there  were  any 
there.  A  little  further  was  the  flag  of  the  St.  John 
spread  on  a  rock  to  dry,  and  held  down  by  stones  at  the 
corners.  This  frail,  but  essential  and  significant  portion 
of  the  vessel,  which  had  so  long  been  the  sport  of  the 
winds,  was  sure  to  reach  the  shore.  There  were  one  or 
two  houses  visible  from  these  rocks,  in  which  were  some 
of  the  survivors  recovering  from  the  shock  which  their 
bodies  and  minds  had  sustained.  One  was  not  expected 
to  live. 

We  kept  on  down  the  shore  as  far  as  a  promontory 
called  Whitehead,  that  we  might  see  more  of  the  Cohas- 
set  Rocks.  In  a  little  cove,  within  half  a  mile,  there 
were  an  old  man  and  his  son  collecting,  with  their  team, 
the  sea-weed  which  that  fatal  stoi-m  had  cast  up,  as 
serenely  employed  as  if  there  had  never  been  a  wreck 
in  the  world,  though  they  were  within  sight  of  the  Gram- 
pus Rock,  on  which  the  St.  John  had  struck.  The  old 
man  had  heard  that  there  was  a  wreck,  and  knew  most 
of  the  particulars,  but  he  said  that  he  had  not  been  up 
there  since  it  happened.  It  was  the  wrecked  weed  that 
concerned  him  most,  rock-weed,  kelp,  and  sea-weed,  as 
he  named  them,  which  he  carted  to  his  barn-yard ; 
and  those  bodies  were  to  him  but  other  weeds  which  the 
tide  cast  up,  but  which  were  of  no  use  to  him.  We 
afterwards  came  to  the  life-boat  in  its  harbor,  waiting  for 
another  emergency,  —  and  in  the  afternoon  we  saw  the 
funeral  procession  at  a  distance,  at  the  head  of  which 
walked  the  captain  with  the  other  survivors. 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  9 

On  the  whole,  it  was  not  so  impressive  a  scene  as  I 
might  have  expected.  If  I  had  found  one  body  cast 
upon  the  beach  in  some  lonely  place,  it  would  have 
affected  me  more.  I  sympathized  rather  with  the  winds 
and  waves,  as  if  to  toss  and  mangle  these  poor  human 
bodies  was  the  order  of  the  day.  If  this  was  the  law  of 
Nature,  why  waste  any  time  in  awe  or  pity?  -If  the 
last  day  were  come,  we  should  not  think  so  much  about 
the  separation  of  friends  or  the  blighted  prospects  of 
individuals.  I  saw  that  corpses  might  be  multiplied,  as 
on  the  field  of  battle,  till  they  no  longer  affected  us  in 
any  degree,  as  exceptions  to  the  common  lot  of  humanity. 
Take  all  the  graveyards  together,  they  are  always  the 
majority.  It  is  the  individual  and  private  that  demands 
our  sympathy.  A  man  can  attend  but  one  funeral  in 
the  course  of  his  life,  can  behold  but  one  corpse.  Yet 
I  saw  tliat  the  inhabitants  of  the  shore  would  be  not  a 
little  affected  by  this  event.  They  would  watch  there 
many  days  and  nights  for  the  sea  to  give  up  its  dead, 
and  their  imaginhtions  and  sympathies  would  supply  the 
place  of  mourners  far  away,  who  as  yet  knew  not  of  the 
wreck.  Many  days  after  this,  something  white  was  seen 
floating  on  the  water  by  one  who  was  sauntering  on  .the 
beach.  It  was  approached  in  a  boat,  and  found  to  be  the 
body  of  a  woman,  which  had  risen  in  an  upright  position, 
whose  white  cap  was  blown  back  with  the  wind.  I  saw 
that  the  beauty  of  the  shore  itself  was  wrecked  for  many 
a  lonely  walker  there,  until  he  could  perceive,  at  .last, 
how  its  beauty  was  enhanced  by  wrecks  like  this,  and  it 
acquired  thus  a  rarer  and  sublimer  beauty  still. 

Why  care  for  these  dead  bodies  ?  They  really  have 
no  friends  but  the  worms  or  fishes.  Their  owners  were 
coming  to  the  New  World,  as  Columbus  and  the  Pil- 
1* 


10  CAPE  COD. 

grims  did,  —  they  were  within  a  mile  of  its  shores  ;  but, 
before  they  could  reach  it,  they  emigi'ated  to  a  newer 
world  than  ever  Columbus  dreamed  of,  yet  one  of  whose 
existence  we  believe  that  there  is  far  more  universal  and 
convincing  evidence  —  though  it  has  not  yet  been  dis- 
covered by  science  —  than  Columbus  had  of  this ;  not 
merelymariners'  tales  and  some  paltry  drift-wood  and 
sea-weed,  but  a  continual  drift  and  instinct  to  all  our 
shores.  I  saw  their  empty  hulks  that  came  to  land ;  but 
they  themselves,  meanwhile,  were  cast  upon  some  shore 
yet  further  west,  toward  which  we  are  all  tending,  and 
which  we  shall  reach  at  last,  it  may  be  through  storm 
and  darkness,  as  they  did.  No  doubt,  we  have  reason  to 
thank  God  that  they  have  not  been  "  shipwrecked  into 
life  again."  The  mariner  who  makes  the  safest  port  in 
Heaven,  perchance,  seems  to  his  friends  on  earth  to  be 
shipwrecked,  for  they  deem  Boston  Harbor  the  better 
place ;  though  perhaps  invisible  to  them,  a  skilful  pilot 
comes  to  meet  him,  and  the  fairest  and  balmiest  gales 
blow  off  that  coast,  his  good  ship  makes  the  land  in 
halcyon  days,  and  he  kisses  the  shore  in  rapture  there, 
while  his  old  hulk  tosses  in  the  surf  here.  It  is  hard  to 
part  with  one's  body,  but,  no  doubt,  it  is  easy  enough  to 
do  without  it  when  once  it  is  gone.  All  their  plans  and 
hopes  burst  like  a  bubble !  Infants  by  the  score  dashed 
on  the  rocks  by  the  enraged  Atlantic  Ocean  !  No,  no  ! 
If  the  St.  John  did  not  make  her  port  here,  she  has  been 
telegraphed  there.  The  strongest. wind  cannot  stagger  a 
Spirit ;  it  is  a  Spirit's  breath.  A  just  man's  purpose 
cannot  be  split  on  any  Grampus  or  material  rock,  but, 
itself  will  split  rocks  till  it  succeeds. 

The  verses  addressed  to  Columbus,  dying,  may,  with 
slight  alterations,  be  ajiplied  to  the  passengers  of  the  St. 
John :  — 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  11 

**  Soon  with  them  will  all  be  over, 
Soon  the  voyage  will  be  begun 
That  shall  bear  them  to  discover, 
Far  away,  a  land  imknown. 

"  Land  that  each,  aloue,  must  visit, 
But  no  tidings  bring  to  men ; 
For  no  sailor,  once  departed, 
Ever  hath  returned  again. 

"  No  carved  wood,  no  broken  branches, 
Ever  drift  from  that  far  wild ; 
He  who  on  that  ocean  launches 
Meets  no  corse  of  angel  child. 

"  Undismayed,  my  noble  sailors, 
Spread,  then  spread  your  canvas  out; 
Spirits !  on  a  sea  of  ether 
Soon  shall  ye  serenely  float! 

"  Where  the  deep  no  plummet  soundeth. 
Fear  no  hidden  breakers  there. 
And  the  fanning  wing  of  angels 
Shall  your  bark  right  onward  bear. 

"  Quit,  now,  full  of  heart  and  comfort. 
These  rude  shores,  they  are  of  earth ; 
Where  the  rosy  clouds  are  parting. 
There  the  blessed  isles  loom  forth." 

Oue  summer  day,  since  this,  I  came  this  way,  on  foot, 
along  the  shore  from  Boston.  It  was  so  warm,  that 
some  horses  had  climbed  to  the  very  top  of  the  ramparts 
of  the  old  fort  at  Hull,  where  there  was  hardly  room  to 
turn  round,  for  the  sake  of  the  breeze.  The  Datura 
stramonium^  or  thorn-apple,  was  in  full  bloom  along  the 
beach ;  an  J,  at  sight  of  this  cosmopolite,  —  this  Captain 
Cook  among  plants,  —  carried  in  ballast  all  over  the 
world,  I  felt  as  if  I  were  on  the  highway  of  nations. 
Say,  rather,  this  Viking,  king  of  the  Bays,  for  it  is  not 
an  irmocent  plant ;  it  suggests  not  merely  commerce,  but 


12  CAPE  COD. 

its  attendant  vices,  a^  if  its  fibres  were  the  stuff  of  which 
pirates  spin  their  yarns.  I  heard  the  voices  of  men 
shouting  aboard  a  vessel,  half  a  mile  from  the  shore, 
which  sounded  as  if  they  were  in  a  barn  in  the  country, 
they  being  between  the  sails.  It  was  a  purely  rural 
sound.  As  I  looked  over  the  water,  I  saw  the  isles 
rapidly  wasting  away,  the  sea  nibbling  voraciously  at  the 
continent,  the  springing  arch  of  a  hill  suddenly  inter- 
rupted, as  at  Point  Alderton,  —  what  botanists  might  call 
premorse,  —  showing,  by  its  curve  against  the  sky,  how 
much  space  it  must  have  occupied,  where  now  was  water 
only.  On  the  other  hand,  these  wrecks  of  isles  were 
being  fancifully  arranged  into  new  shores,  as  at  Hog 
Island,  inside  of  Hull,  where  everything  seemed  to  be 
gently  lapsing  into  futurity.  This  isle  had  got  the  very 
form  of  a  ripple,  —  and  I  thought  that  the  inhabitants 
should  bear  a  ripple  for  device  on  their  shields,  a  wave 
passing  over  them,  with  the  datura,  which  is  said-  to  pro- 
duce mental  alienation  of  long  duration  without  affecting 
the  bodily  health,*  springing  from  its  edge.     The  most 

*  The  Jamestown  weed  (or  tliom-apple).  "  This, being  an  early  plant, 
was  gathered  very  young  for  a  boiled  salad,  by  some  of  the  soldiers 
sent  thither  [i.  e.  to  Virginia]  to  quell  the  rebellion  of  Bacon;  and  some 
of  them  ate  plentifully  of  it,  the  effect  of  which  was  a  very  pleasant 
comedy,  for  they  turned  natural  fools  upon  it  for  several  days :  one 
would  blow  up  a  feather  in  the  air;  another  would  dart  straws  at  it  with 
much  fury;  and  another,  stark  naked,  was  sitting  up  in  a  corner  like  a 
monkey,  grinning  and  making  mows  at  them ;  a  fourth  would  fondly 
kiss  and  paw  his  companions,  and  sneer  in  their  faces,  with  a  counte- 
nance more  antic  than  any  in  a  Dutch  droll.  In  this  frantic  con- 
dition they  were  coutiiied,  lest  they  should,  in  their  folly,  destroy 
themselves,  —  though  it  was  observed  that  all  their  actions  were 
full  of  innocence  and  good  nature.  Indeed,  they  were  not  very 
cleanly.  A  thousand  such  simple  tricks  they  played,  and  after 
eleven  days  returned  to  themselves  again,  not  remembering  any- 
thing that  had  passed."  —  Beverly's  Histonj  of  Vir-ginia,  p.  120. 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  13 

interesting  thing  which  I  heard  of,  in  this  township  of 
Hull,  was  an  unfailing  spring,  Whose  locality  was  pointed 
out  to  me,  on  the  side  of  a  distant  hill,  as  I  was  panting 
along  the  shore,  though  I  did  not  visit  it.  Perhaps,  if  I 
should  go  through  Rome,  it  would  be  some  spring  on  the 
Capitoline  Hill  I  should  remember  the  longest.  It  is 
true,  I  was  somewhat  interested  in  the  well  at  the  old 
French  fort,  which  was  said  to  be  ninety  feet  deep,  with 
a  cannon  at  the  bottom  of  it.  On  Nantasket  beach  I' 
counted  a  dozen  chaises  from  the  public-house.  From 
time  to  time  the  riders  tum'ed  their  hoi-ses  toward  the 
sea,  standing  in  the  water  for  the  coolness,  —  and  I  saw 
the  value  of  beaches  to  cities  for  the  sea  breeze  and  the 
bath. 

At  Jerusalem  village  the  inhabitants  were  collecting 
in  haste,  before  a  thunder-shower  now  approaching,  the 
Irish  moss  which  they  had  spread  to  dry.  The  shower 
passed  on  one  side,  and  gave  mo  a  few  drops  only, 
which  did  not  cool  the  air.  I  merely  felt  a  puff  upon 
my  cheek,  though,  within  sight,  a  vessel  was  capsized  in 
the  bay,  and  several  others  dragged  their  anchors,  and 
were  near  going  ashore.  The  sea-bathing  at  Cohasset 
Roijks  was  perfect.  The  water  was  purer  and  more 
transparent  than  any  I  had  ever  seen.  There  was  not 
a  particle  of  mud  or  slime  about  it.  The  bottom  being 
sandy,  I  could  see  the  sea-perch  swimming  about  The 
smooth  and  fantastically  worn  rocks,  and  the  perfectly 
clean  and  tress-like  rock-weeds  falling  over  you,  and 
attached  so  firmly  to  the  rocks  that  you  could  pull  your- 
self up  by  them,  greatly  enhanced  the  luxury  of  the 
bath.  The  stripe  of  barnacles  just  above  the  weeds 
reminded  me  of  some  vegetable  growth,  —  the  buds,  and 
petals,  and  seed-vessels  of  flowers.     They  lay  along  the 


14  CAPE  COD. 

seams  of  the  rock  like  buttons  on  a  waistcoat.  It  was 
one  of  the  hottest  days  in  the  year,  yet  I  found  the  water 
so  icy  cold  that  I  could  swim  but  a  stroke  or  two,  and 
thought  that,  in  case  of  shipwreck,  there  would  be  more 
danger  of  being  chilled  to  death  than  simply  drowned. 
One  immersion  was  enough  to  make  you  forget  the  dog- 
days  utterly.  Though  you  were  sweltering  before,  it 
will  take  you  half  an  hour  now  to  remember  that  it  was 
ever  warm.  There  were  the  tawny  rocks,  like  lions 
couchant,  defying  the  ocean,  whose  waves  incessantly 
dashed  against  and  scoured  them  with  vast  quantities 
of  gravel.  The  water  held  in  their  little  hollows,  on  the 
receding  of  the  tide,  was  so  crystalline  that  I  could  not 
believe  it  salt,  but  wished  to  drink  it;  and  higher 
up  were  basins  of  fresh  water  left  by  the  rain,  —  all 
which,  being  also  of  different  depths  and  temperature, 
were  convenient  for  diflferent  kinds  of  baths.  Also, 
the  larger  hollows  in  the  smoothed  rocks  formed  the 
most  convenient  of  seats  and  dressing-rooms.  In 
these  respects  it  was*  the  most  perfect  sea-shore  that 
I  had  seen. 

I  saw  in  Cohasset,  separated  from  the  sea  only  by  a 
narrow  beach,  a  handsome  but  shallow  lake  of  SQme 
four  hundred  acres,  which,  I  was  told,  the  sea  had  tossed 
over  the  beach  in  a  great  storm  in  the  spring,  and,  after 
the  alewives  had  passed  into  it,  it  had  stopped  up  its  out- 
let, and  now  the  alewives  were  dying  by  thousands,  and 
the  inhabitants  were  apprehending  a  pestilence  as  the 
water  evaporated.     It  had  five  rocky  islets  in  it. 

This  rocky  shore  is  called  Pleasant  CJove,  on  some 
maps ;  on  the  map  of  Cohasset,  that  name  appears  to  be 
confined  to  the  particular  cove  where  I  saw  the  wreck 
of  the.  St.  John.     The  ocean  did  not  look,  now,  as  if  any 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  15 

were  ever  shipwrecked  in  it ;  it  was  not  grand  and  sub- 
lime, but  beautiful  as  a  lake.  Not  a  vestige  of  a  wreck 
was  visible,  nor  could  I  believe  that  the  bones  of  many 
a  shipwrecked  man  were  buried  in  that  pure  sand.  But 
to  go  on  with  our  first  excursion. 


II. 

STAGE-COACH   VIEWS. 


After  spending  the  night  in  Bridgewater,  and  picking 
up  a  few.  arrow-heads  there  in  the  morning,  we  took  the 
cars  for  Sandwich,  where  we  arrived  before  noon.  This 
was  the  terminus  of  the  "  Cape  Cod  Railroad,"  though 
it  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  Cape.  As  it  rained  hard, 
with  driving'  mists,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  its  holding 
up,  we  here  took  that  almost  obsolete  conveyance,  the 
stage,  for  "  as  far  as  it  went  that  day,"  as  we  told  the 
driver.  We  had  forgotten  how  far  a  stage  could  go  in 
a  day,  but  we  were  told  that  the  Cape  roads  were  very 
"  heavy,"  though  they  added  that,  being  of  sand,  the  rain 
would  improve  them.  This  coach  was  an  exceedingly 
narrow  one,  but  as  there  was  a  slight  spherical  excess 
over  two  on  a  seat,,  the  driver  waited  till  nine  passengers 
had  got  in,  without  taking  the- measure  of  any  of  them, 
and  then  shut  the  door  after  two  or  three  ineffectual 
slams,  as  if  the  fault  were  all  in  the  hinges  or  the  latch, 
—  while  we  timed  our  inspirations  and  expirations  so  as 
to  assist  him. 

We  were  now  fairly  on  the  Cape,  which  extends  from 
Sandwich  eastward  thirty-five  miles,  and  thence  north 
and  northwest  thirty  more,  in  all  sixty-five,  and  has  an 
average  breadth  of  about  five  miles.     In  the  interior  it 


.  STAGE-COACH  VIEWS.  17 

rises  to  the  height  of  two  hundred,  and  sometimes  perhaps 
three  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Accord- 
ing to  Hitchcock,  the  geologist  of  the  State,  it  is  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  sand,  even  to  the  depth  of  three 
hundred  feet  in  some  places,  though  there  is  probably 
a  concealed  core  of  rock  a  little  beneath  the  surface, 
and  it  is  of  diluvian  origin,  excepting  a  small  portion  at 
the  extremity  and  elsewhere  along  the  shores,  which  is 
alluvial.  For  the  first  half  of  the  Cape  large  blocks  of 
stone  are  found,  here  and  there,  mixed  with  the  sand, 
but  for  the  last  thirty  miles  boulders,  or  even  gravel,  are 
rarely  met  with.  Hitchcock  conjectures  that  the  ocean 
has,  in  course  of  time,  eaten  out  Boston  Harbor  and  other 
bays  in  the  mainland,  and  that  the  minute  fragments 
have  been  deposited  by  the  currents  at  a  distance  from 
the  shore,  and  formed  this  sand-bank.  Above  the  sand, 
if  the  surface  is  subjected  to  agricultural  tests,  there  is 
found  to  be  a  thin  layer  of  soil  gradually  diminishing 
from  Barnstable  to  Truro,  where  it  ceases ;  but  there 
are  many  holes  and  rents  in  this  weather-beaten  gar- 
ment not  hkely  to  be  stitched  in  time,  which  reveal  the 
naked  flesh  of  the  Cape,  and  its  extremity  is  completely 
bare. 

I  at  once  got  out  my  book,  the  eighth  volume  of  the 
Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
printed  in  1802,  which  contains  some  short  notices  of  the 
Cape  towns,  and  began  to  read  up  to  where  I  was,  for 
in  the  cara  I  could  not  read  as  fast  as  I  travelled.  To 
those  who  came  from  the  side  of  Plymouth,  it  said : 
"  After  riding  through  a  body  of  woods,  twelve  miles  in 
extent,  interspersed  with  but  few  houses,  the  settlement 
of  Sandwich  appears,  with  a  more  agreeable  effect,  to 
the  eye  of  the  traveller."     Another  writer  speaks  of  this 


18  CAPE  COD. 

as  a  beautiful  village.  But  I  think  that  our  villages  will 
bear  to  be  contrasted  only  with  one  another,  not  with 
Nature.  I  have  no  great  respect  for  the  writer's  taste, 
who  talk^  easily  about  beautiful  villages,  embellished, 
perchance,  with  a  "  fulling-mill,"  "  a  handsome  acad- 
emy," or  meeting-house,  and  "a  number  of  shops  for 
the  different  mechanic  arts  " ;  where  the  green  and  white 
houses  of  the  gentry,  drawn  up  in  rows,  front  on  a  street 
of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  tell  whether  it  is  most 
like  a  desert  or  a  long  stable-yard.  Such  spots  can  be 
beautiful  only  to  the  weary  traveller,  or  the  returning  na- 
tive, —  or,  perchance,  the  repentant  misanthrope  ;  not  to 
him  whoj  with  unprejudiced  senses,  has  just  come  out  of 
the  woods,  and  approaches  one  of  them,  by  a  bare  road, 
through  a  succession  of  stragglmg  homesteads  where  he 
cannot  tell  which  is  the  alms-house.  However,  as  for 
Sandwich,  I  cannot  speak  particularly.  Ours  was  but 
half  a  Sandwich  at  most,  and  that  must  have  fallen  on 
the  buttered  side  some  time.  I  only  saw  that  it  was  a 
closely-built  town  for  a  small  one,  with  glass-works  to 
improve  its  sand,  and  narrow  streets  in  which  we  turned 
round  and  round  till  we  could  not  tell  which  way  we 
were  going,  and  the  rain  came  in,  first  on  this  side,  and 
then  on  that,  and  I  saw  that  they  in  the  houses  were 
more  comfortable  than  we  in  the  coach.  My  book  also 
said  of  this  town,  "  The  inhabitants,  in  general,  are 
substantial  livers,"  —  that  is,  I  suppose,  they  do  not  live 
like  philosophers ;  but,  as  the  stage  did  not  stop  long 
enough  for  us  to  dine,  we  had  no  opportunity  to  test  the 
truth  of  this  statement.  It  may  have  referred,  however, 
to  the  quantity  "  of  oil  they  would  yield."  It  further 
said,  "  The  inhabitants  of  Sandwich  generally  manifest  a 
fond  and  steady  adherence  to  the  manners,  employments, 


STAGE-COACH  VIEWS.  19 

and  modes  of  living  which  characterized  their  fathers  '* ; 
which  made  me  think  that  they  were,  after  all,  very 
much  like  all  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  —  and  it  added  that 
this  was  "  a  resemblance,  which,  at  this  day,  will  con- 
stitute no  impeachment  of  either  their  virtue  or  taste  "  ; 
which  remark  proves  to  me  that  the  writer  was  one  with 
the  rest  of  tliem.  No  people  ever  lived  by  cursing  their 
fathers,  however  great  a  curse  their  fathers  might  have 
been  to  them.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that  ours  was  old 
authority,  and  probably  they  have  changed  all  that  now. 
Our  route  was  along  the  Bay  side,  through  Barnstable, 
Yarmouth,  Dennis,  and  Brewster,  to  Orleans,  with  a 
range  of  low  hills  on  our  right,  running  down  the  Cape. 
The  weather  was  not  favorable  for  wayside  views,  but 
we  made  the  most  of  such  glimpses  of  land  and  water  as 
we  could  get  through  the  rain.  The  country  was,  for 
the  most  part,  bare,  or  with  only  a  little  scrubby  wood 
left  on  the  hills.  We  noticed  in  Yarmouth  —  and,  if  I 
do  not  mistake,  in  Dennis  —  large  tracts  where  pitch- 
pines  were  planted  four  or  five  years  before.  They  were 
in  rows,  as  they  appeared  when  we  were  abreast  of  them, 
and,  excepting  that  there  were  extensive  vacant  spaces, 
seemed  to  be  doing  remarkably  well.  This,  we  were 
told,  was  the  only  use  to  ^hich  such  tracts  could  be  prof- 
itably put.  Every  higher  eminence  had  a  pole  set  up 
on  it,  with  an  old  storm-coat  or  sail  tied  to  it,  for  a  signal, 
that  those  on  the  south  side  of  the  Cape,  for  instance, 
might  know  when  the  Boston  packets  had  arrived  on  the 
north.  It  appeared  as  if  this  use  must  absorb  the 
greater  part  of  the  old  clothes  of  the  Cape,  leaving  but 
few  rags  for  the  peddlers.  The  wind-mills  on  the  hills,  — 
large  weather-stained  octagonal  structures,  —  and  the 
salt-works    scattered   all   along   the   shore,   with    their 


20  CAPE  COD. 

long  rows  of  vats  resting  on  piles  driven  into  the  marsh, 
their  low,  turtle-like  roofs,  and  their  slighter  wind-mills, 
were  novel  and  interesting  objects  to  an  inlander.  The 
sand  by  the  roadside  was  partially  covered  with  bunches 
of  a  moss-like  plant,  Hudsonia  tomentosa,  which  a  woman 
in  the  stage  told  us  was  called  "  poverty  grass,"  because 
it  grew  where  nothing  else  would. 

I  was  struck  by  the  pleasant  equality  which  reigned 
among  the  stage  company,  and  their  broad  and  invulner- 
able good  humor.  They  were  what  is  called  free  and 
easy,  and  met  one  another  to  advantage,  as  men  who  had, 
at  length,  learned  how  to  live.  They  appeared  to  know 
each  other  when  they  were  strangers,  they  were  so  sim- 
ple and  downright.  They  were  well  met,  in  an  unusual 
sense,  that  is,  they  met  as  well  as  they  could  meet,  and 
did  not  seem  to  be  troubled  with  any  impediment.  They 
were  not  afraid  nor  ashamed  of  one  another,  but  were 
contented  to  make  just  such  a  company  as  the  ingredients 
allowed.  It  was  evident  that  the  same  foolish  respect 
was  not  here  claimed,  for  mere  wealth  and  station,  that 
is  in  many  parts  of  New  England ;  yet  some  of  them 
were  the  "  first  people,"  as  they  are  called,  of  the  va- 
rious towns  through  which  we  passed.  Retired  sea- 
captains,  in  easy  circumstances,  who  talked  of  farming 
as  sea-captains  are  wont  ;  an  erect,  respectable,  and 
trustworthy-looking  man,  in  his  wrapper,  some  of  the 
salt  of  the  earth,  who  had  formerly  been  the  salt  of  the 
sea ;  or  a  more  courtly  gentleman,  who,  perchance,  had 
been  a  representative  to  the  General  Court  in  his  day  ; 
or  a  broad,  red-faced  Cape  Cod  man,  who  had  seen  too 
many  storms  to  be  easily  irritated  ;  or  a  fisherman's  wife, 
who  had  been  waiting  a  week  for  a  coaster  to  leave 
Boston,  and  had  at  length  come  by  the  cars. 


STAGE-COACH  VIEWS.  21 

A  strict  regard  for  truth  obliges  us  to  say,  tliat  the  few 
women  whom  we  saw  that  day  looked  exceedingly 
pinched  up.  They  had  prominent  chins  and  noses,  hav- 
ing lost  all  their  teetli,  and  a  sharp  W  would  represent 
their  profile.  They  were  not  so  well  preserved  as  their 
husbands;  or  perchance  they  were  well  preserved  as 
dried  specimens.  (Their  husbands,  however,  were  pic- 
kled.) But  we  respect  them  not  the  less  for  all  that ;  our 
own  dental  system  is  far  from  perfect 

Still  we  kept  on  in  the  rain,  or,  if  we  stopped,  it  was 
commonly  at  a  post-office,  and  we  thought  that  writing 
letters,  and  sorting  them  against  our  arrival,  must  be  the 
principal  employment  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape, 
this  rainy  day.  The  Post-office  appeared  a  singularly  do- 
mestic institution  here.  Ever  and  anon  the  stage  stopped 
before  some  low  shop  or  dwelling,  and  a  wheelwright 
or  shoemaker  appeared  in  his  shirt  sleeves  and  leather 
apron,  with  spectacles  newly  donned,  holding  up  Uncle 
Sam's  bag,  as  if  it  were  a  slice  of  home-made  cake,  for 
the  travellers,  while  he  retailed  some  piece  of  gossip  to 
the  driver,  really  as  indifferent  to  the  presence  of  the 
former  as  if  thejr^were  so  much  baggage.  In  one  in- 
stance, we  understood  that  a  woman  was  the  post-mis- 
tress, and  they  said  that  she  made  the  best  one  on  the 
road;  but  we  suspected  that  the  letters  must  be  sub- 
jected to  a  very  close  scrutiny  there.  While  we  were 
stopping,  for  this  purpose,  at  Dennis,  we  ventured  to  put 
our  heads  out  of  the  windows,  to  see  where  we  w^re 
going,  and  saw  rising  before  us,  through  the  mist,  singu- 
lar barren  hills,  all  stricken  with  poverty-grass,  looming 
up  as  if  they  were  in  the  horizon,  though  they  were  close 
to  us,  and  we  seemed  to  have  got  to  the  end  of  the  land 
on  that  side,  notwithstanding  that  the  horses  were  still 


22  CAPE  COD. 

headed  that  way.  Indeed,  that  part  of  Dennis  which  we 
saw  was  an  exceedingly  barren  and  desolate  country,  of 
a  character  which  I  can  find  no  name  for ;  such  a  sur- 
face, perhaps,  as  the  bottom  of  the  sea  made  dry  land 
day  before  yesterday.  It  was  covered  with  poverty- 
grass,  and  there  was  hardly  a  tree  in  sight,  but  here  and 
there  a  little  weather-stained,  one-storied  house,  with  a 
red  roof,  —  for  often  the  roof  was  painted,  though  the 
rest  of  the  house  was  not,  —  standing  bleak  and  cheer- 
less, yet  with  a  broad  foundation  to  the  land,  where  the 
comfort  must  have  been  all  inside.  Yet  we  read  in  the 
Gazetteer  —  for  we  carried  that  too  with  us  —  that,  in 
1837,  one  hundred  and  fifty  masters  of  vessels,  belong- 
ing to  this  to\Mi,  sailed  from  the  various  ports  of  the 
Union.  There  must  be  many  more  houses  in  the  south 
part  of  the  town,  else  we  cannot  imagine  where  they  all 
lodge  when  they  are  at  home,  if  ever  they  are  there ;  but 
the  truth  is,  their  houses  are  floating  ones,  and  their 
home  is  on  the  ocean.  There  were  almost  no  trees  at 
all  in  this  part  of  Dennis,  nor  could  I  learn  that  they 
talked  of  setting  out  any.  It  is  true,  there  was  a  meet- 
ing-house, set  round  with  Lombardy  poplars,  in  a  hollow 
square,  the  rows  fully  as  straight  as  the  studs  of  a  build- 
ing, and  the  corners  as  square ;  but,  if  I  do  not  mistake, 
every  one  of  them  was  dead.  I  could  not  help  thinking 
that  they  needed  a  revival  here.  Our  book  said  that,  in 
1795,  there  was  erected  in  Dennis  "an  elegant  meeting- 
house, with  a  steeple."  Perhaps  this  was  the  one  ; 
though  whether  it  had  a  steeple,  or  had  died  down  so  far 
from  sympathy  with  the  poplars,  I  do  not  remember. 
Another  meeting-house  in  this  town  was  described  as  a 
"  neat  building  " ;  but  of  the  meeting-house  in  Chatham, 
a  neighboring  town,  for  there  was  then  but  one,  noth- 


STAGE-COACH  VIEWS.  23 

ing  is  said,  except  that  it  "  is  in  good  repair,"  —  both 
which  remarks,  I  trust,  may  be  understood  as  applying 
to  the  churches  spiritual  as  well  as  material.  However, 
"elegant  meeting-houses,"  from  that  Trinity  one  on 
Broadway,  to  this  at  Nobscusset,  in  my  estimation,  belong 
to  the  same  category  with  "  beautiful  villages."  I  was 
never  in  season  to  see  one.  Handsome  is  that  hand- 
some does.  What  they  did  for  shade  here,  in  warm 
weather,  we  did  not  know,  though  we  read  that  "  fogs 
are  more  frequent  in  Chatham  than  in  any  other  part  of 
the  country ;  and  they  serve  in  summer,  instead  of  trees, 
to  shelter  the  houses  against  the  heat  of  the  sun.  To 
those  who  delight  in  extensive  vision,"  —  is  it  to  be 
inferred  that  the  inhabitants  of  Chatham  do  not?  — 
"they  are  unplea«;ant,  but  they  are  not  found  to  be 
unhealthful."  Probably,  also,  the  unobstructed  sea- 
breeze  answers  the  purpose  of  a  fan.  The  historian  of 
Chatham  says  further,  that  "  in  many  families  there  is  no 
difference  between  the  breakfast  and  supper  ;  cheese, 
cakes,  and  pies  being  as  common  at  the  one  as  at  the 
other."  But  that  leaves  us  still  uncertain  whether  they 
were  really  common  at  either. 

The  road,  which  was  quite  hilly,  here  ran  near  the 
Bay-shore,  having  the  Bay  on  one  side,  and  "  the  rough 
hill  of  Scargo,"  said  to  be  the  highest  land  on  the  Cape, 
on  the  other.  Of  the  wide  prospect  of  the  Bay  afforded 
by  the  summit  of  this  hill,  our  guide  says :  "  The  view 
has  not  much  of  the  beautiful  in  it,  but  it  communicates 
a  strong  emotion  of  the  sublime."  That  is  the  kind  of 
communication  which  we  love  t6  have  made  to  us.  We 
passed  through  the  village  of  Suet,  in  Dennis,  on  Suet 
and  Quivet  Necks,  of  which  it  is  said,  "  when  compared 
with  Nobscusset,"  —  we  had  a  misty  recollection  of  hav- 


24  CAPE  COD. 

ing  passed  through,  or  near  to,  the  latter,  —  "  it  may  be 
denominated  a  pleasant  village ;  but,  in  comparison  with 
the  village  of  Sandwich,  there  is  little  or  no  beauty  in 
it."  However,  we  liked  Dennis  well,  better  than  any 
town  we  had  seen  on  the  Cape,  it  was  so  novel,  and,  in 
that  stormy  day,  so  sublimely  dreary. 

Captain  John  Sears,  of  Suet,  was  the  first  person  in 
this  country  who  obtained  pure  marine  salt  by  solar 
evaporation  alone  ;  though  it  had  long  been  made  in 
a  similar  way  on  the  coast  of  France,  and  elsewhere. 
This  was  in  the  year  1776,  at  which  time,  on  account  of 
the  war,  salt  was  scarce  and  dear.  The  Historical  Col- 
lections contain  an  interesting  account  of  his  experi- 
ments, which  we  read  when  we  first  saw  the  roofs  of  the 
salt-works.  Barnstable  county  is  the  most  favorable 
locality  for  these  works  on  our  northern  coast,  —  there 
is  so  little  fresh  water  here  emptying  into  ocean.  Quite 
recently  there  were  about  two  millions  of  dollars  in- 
vested in  this  business  here.  But  now  the  Cape  is  un- 
able to  compete  with  the  importers  of  salt  and  the 
manufacturers  of  it  at  the  West,  and,  accordingly,  her 
salt-works  are  fast  going  to  decay.  From  making  salt, 
they  turn  to  fishing  more  than  ever.  The  Gazetteer 
will  uniformly  tell  you,  under  the  head  of  each  town, 
how  many  go  a-fishing,  and  the  value  of  the  fish  and  oil 
taken,  how  much  salt  is  made  and  used,  how  many  are 
engaged  in  the  coasting  trade,  how  many  in  manufactur- 
ing palm-leaf  hats,  leather,  boots,  shoes,  and  tinware, 
and  then  it  has  done,  and  leaves  you  to  imagine  the 
more  truly  domestic  manufactures  which  are  nearly  the 
same  all  the  world  over. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  we  rode  through  Brewster,  so 
named  after  Elder  Brewster,  for  fear  he  would  be  for- 


STAGE-COACH  VIEWS.  25 

gotten  else.  Who  has  not  heard  of  Elder  Brewster  ? 
Who  knows  who  he  was  ?  This  appeared  to  be  the 
modem-built  town  of  the  Cape,  the  favorite  residence 
of  retired  sea-captains.  It  is  said  that  "  there  are  more 
masters  and  mates  of  vessels  which  sail  on  foreign  voy- 
ages belonging  to  this  place  than  to  any  other  town  in 
the  country."  There  were  many  of  the  modern  Ameri- 
can houses  here,  such  as  they  turn  out  at  Cambridge- 
port,  standing  on  the  sand  ;  you  could  almost  swear  that 
they  had  been  floated  down  Charles  River,  and  drifted 
across  the  bay.  I  call  them  American,  because  they 
are  paid  for  by  Americans,  and  "  put  up  "  by  American 
carpenters;  but  they  are  little  removed  from  lumber; 
only  Eastern  stuff  disguised  with  white  piiint,  the  least 
interesting  kind  of  drift-wood  to  me.  Perhaps  we  have 
reason  to  be  proud  of  our  naval  architecture,  and  need 
not  go  to  the  Greeks,  or  the  Goths,  or  the  Italians,  for 
the  models  of  our  vessels.  Sea-captains  do  not  employ 
a  Cambridgeport  carpenter  to  build  their  floating  houses, 
and  for  their  houses  on  shore,  if  they  must  copy  any, 
it  would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  imagination  to  see 
one  of  their  vessels  turned  bottom  upward,  in  the  Numid- 
ian  fashion.  We  read  that,  "  at  certain  seasons,  the 
reflection  of  the  sun  upon  the  windows  of  the  houses  in 
Wellfleet  and  Truro  (across  the  inner  side  of  the  elbow 
of  the  Cape)  is  discernible  with  the  naked  eye,  at  a 
distance  of  eighteen  miles  and  upward,  on  the  county 
road."  This  we  were  pleased  to  imagine,  as  we  had  not 
seen  the  sun  for  twenty-four  hours. 

The  same  author  (the  Rev.  John  Simpkins)  said  of 
the  inhabitants,  a  good  while  ago :  "  No  persons  appear 
to  have  a  greater  relish  for  the  social  circle  and  domes- 
tic pleasures.     They  are  not  in  the  habit  of  frequenting 
2 


26  CAPE  COD. 

taverns,  unless  on  public  occasions.  I  know  not  of  a 
proper  idler  or  tavern-haunter  in  the  place."  This  is 
more  than  can  be  said  of  my  townsmen. 

At  length,  we  stopped  for  the  night  at  Higgins's  tav- 
ern, in  Orleans,  feeling  very  much  as  if  we  were  on  a 
sand-bar  in  the  ocean,  and  not  knowing  whether  we 
should  see  land  or  water  ahead  when  the  mist  cleared 
away.  We  here  overtook  two  Italian  boys,  who  had 
waded  thus  far  down  the  Cape  through  the  sand,  with 
their  organs  on  their  backs,  and  were  going  on  to  Prov- 
incetown.  What  a  hard  lot,  we  thought,  if  the  Prov- 
incetown  people  should  shut  their  doors  against  them ! 
Whose  yard  would  they  go  to  next  ?  Yet  we  concluded 
that  they  had  chosen  wisely  to  come  here,  where  other 
music  than  that  of  the  surf  must  be  rare.  Thus  the 
great  civilizer  sends  out  its  emissaries,  sooner  or  later, 
to  every  sandy  cape  and  light-house  of  the  New  World 
v^hich  the  census-taker  visits,  and  summons  the  savage 
there  to  surrender. 


III. 

THE    PLAINS   OF   NAUSET. 


The  next  morning,  Thursday,  October  11th,  it  rained, 
as  hard  as  ever ;  but  we  were  determined  to  proceed  on 
foot,  nevertheless.  We  first  made  some  inquiries  with 
regard  to  the  practicability  of  walking  up  the  shore  on 
the  Atlantic  side  to  Provincetown,  whether  we  should 
meet  with  any  creeks  or  marshes  to  trouble  us."  Hig- 
gins  said  that  there  was  no  obstruction,  and  that  it  was 
not  much  farther  than  by  the  road,  but  he  thought  that 
we  should  find  it  very  "  heavy  '*  walking  in  the  sand  ; 
it  was  bad  enough  in  the  road,  a  horse  would  sink  in  up 
to  the  fetlocks  there.  But  there  was  one  man  at  the 
tavern  who  had  walked  it,  and  he  said  that  we  could  go 
very  well,  though  it  was*  sometimes  inconvenient  and 
even  dangerous  walking  under  the  bank,  when  there  was 
a  great  tide,  with  an  easterly  wind,  which  caused  the 
sand  to  cave.  For  the  first  l^ur  or  five  miles  we  fol- 
lowed the  road,  which  here  turns  to  the  north  on  the  el- 
bow, —  the  narrowest  part  of  the  Cape,  —  that  we  might 
clear  an  inlet  from  the  ocean,  a  part  of  Nauset  Harbor, 
in  Orleans,  on  our  right  We  found  the  travelling  good 
enough  for  walkers  on  the  sides  of  the  roads,  though  it 
was  "  heavy "  for  horses  in  the  middle.  We  walked 
with  our  umbrellas  behind  us,  since  it  blowed  hard  as 


28  CAPE   COD. 

well  a3  rained,  wi*h  driving  mists,  as  the  day  before, 
and  the  wind  helped  us  over  the  sand  at  a  rapid  rate. 
Everything  indicated  that  we  had  reached  a  strange 
shore.  The  road  was  a  mere  lane,  winding  over  bare 
swells  of  bleak  and  barren-looking  land.  The  houses 
were  few  and  far  between,  besides  being  small  and  rusty, 
though  they  appeared  to  be  kept  in  good  repair,  and 
their  door-yards,  which  were  the  unfenced  Cape,  were 
tidy ;  or,  ^athe^,  they  looked  as  if  the  ground  around 
them  was  blown  clean  by  the  wind.  Perhaps  the  scar- 
city of  wood  here,  and  the  consequent  absence  of  the 
wood-pile  and  other  wooden  traps,  had  something  to  do 
with  this  appearance.  They  seemed,  like  mariners 
ashore,  to  have  sat  right  down  to  enjoy  the  firmness  of 
the  land,  without  studying  their  postures  or  habiliments. 
To  them  it  was  merely  terra  jirma  and  cognita,  not  yet 
fertilis  and  jucunda.  Every  landscape  which  is  dreary 
enough  has  a  certain  beauty  to  my  eyes,  and  in  this  in- 
stance its  permanent  qualities  were  enhanced  by  the 
weather.  Everything  told  of  the  sea,  even  when  we 
did  not  see  its  waste  or  hear  its  roar.  For  birds  there 
were  gulls,  and  for  carts  in  the  fields,  boats  turned  bot- 
tom upward  against  the  houjes,  and  soc&etimes  the  rib 
of  a  whale  was  woven  into  the  fence  by  the  road-side. 
The  trees  were,  if  possible,  rarer  than  the  houses,  ex- 
cepting apple-trees,  of  which  there  were  a  few  small 
orchards  in  the  hollows.  These  were  either  narrow  and 
high,  with  flat  tops,  having  lost  their  side  branches,  like 
huge  plum-bushes  growing  in  exposed  situations,  or  else 
dwarfed  and  branching  immediately  at  the  ground,  like 
quince-bushes.  They  suggested  that,  under  like  circum- 
stances, all  trees  would  at  last  acquire  like  habits  of 
growth.     I  afterward  saw  on  the  Cape  many  full-grown 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  29 

apple-trees  not  higher  than  a  man's  head ;  one  whole 
orchard,  indeed,  where  all  the  fruit  could  have  been 
gathered  by  a  man  standing  on  the  ground  ;  but  you 
could  hardly  creep  beneath  the  trees.  Some,  which  the 
owners  told  me  were  twenty  years-  old,  were  only  three 
and  a  half  feet  high,  spreading  at  six  inches  from  the 
ground  five  feet  each  way,  and  being  withal  surrounded 
with  boxes  of  tar  to  catch  the  cankerworms,  they  looked 
like  plants  in  flower-pots,  and  as  if  they  might  be  taken 
into  the  house  in  the  winter.  In  another  place,  I  saw 
some  not  much  larger  than  currant-bushes ;  yet  the 
owner  told  me  that  they  had  borne  a  barrel  and  a  half 
of  apples  that  fall.  If  they  had  been  placed  close  to- 
gether, I  could  have  cleared  them  all  at  a  jump.  I 
measured  some  near  the  Highland  Light  in  Truro,  which 
had  been  taken  from  the  shrubby  woods  thereabouts 
when  young,  and  grafted.  One,  which  had  been  set  ten 
years,  was  on  an  average  eighteen  inches  high,  and 
spread  nine  feet  with  a  flat  top.  It  had  borne  one  bushel 
of  apples  two  years  before.  Another,  probably  twenty 
years  old  from  the  seed,  was  five  feet  high,  and  spread 
eighteen  feet,  branching,  as  usual,  at  the  ground,  so  that 
you  could  not  creep  under  it.  This  bore  a  barrel  of 
apples  two  years  before.  The  owner  of  these  trees  in- 
variably used  the  personal  pronoun  in  speaking  of  them ; 
as,  "  I  got  him  out  of  the  woods,  but  he  does  n't  bear." 
The  largest  that  I  saw  in  that  neighborhood  was  nine 
feet  high  to  the  topmost  leaf,  and  spread  thirty-three 
feet,  branching  at  the  ground  five  ways. 

In  one  yard  I  observed  a  single,  very  healthy-looking 
tree,  while  all  the  rest  were  dead  or  dying.  The  occu- 
pant said  that  his  father  had  manured  all  but  that  one 
with  blackfish.  . 


30  CAPE  COD. 

This  habit  of  growth  should,  no  doubt,  be  encouraged ; 
and  they  should  not  be  trimmed  up,  as  some  travelling 
practitioners  have  advised.  In  1802  there  was  not  a 
single  fruit-tree  in  Chatham,  the  next  town  to  Orleans, 
on  tlie  south ;  and  the  old  account  of  Orleans  says : 
"  Fruit-trees  cannot  be  made  to  grow  within  a  mile  of 
the  ocean.  Even  those  which  are  placed  at  a  greater 
distance  are  injured  by  the  east  winds ;  and,  after  vio- 
lent storms  in  the  spring,  a  saltish  taste  is  perceptible  on 
their  bark."  We  noticed  that  they  were  often  covered 
with  a  yellow  lichen  like  rust,  the  Parmelia  parietina. 

The  most  foreign  and  picturesque  structures  on  the 
Cape,  to  an  inlander,  not  excepting  the  salt-works,  are 
the  wind-mills,  —  gray-looking  octagonal  towers,  with 
long  timbers  slanting  to  the  ground  in  the  rear,  and  there 
resting  on  a  cart-wheel,  by  which  their  fans  are  turned 
round  to  face  the  wind.  These  appeared  also  to  serve 
in  some  measure  for  props  against  its  force.  A  great 
circular  rut  was  worn  around  the  building  by  the  wheel. 
The  neighbors  who  assemble  to  turn  the  mill  to  the  wind 
are  likely  to  know  which  way  it  blows,  without  a  weather- 
cock. They  looked  loose  and  slightly  locomotive,  like 
huge  wounded  birds,  trailing  a  wing  or  a  leg,  and  re- 
minded one  of  pictures  of  the  Netherlands.  Being  on 
elevated  ground,  and  high  in  themselves,  they  serve  as 
landmarks,  —  for  there  are  no  tall  trees,  or  other  objects 
commonly,  which  can  be  seen  at  a  distance  in  the  hori- 
zon ;  though  the  outline  of  the  land  itself  is  so  firm  and 
distinct,  that  an  insignificant  cone,  or  even  precipice  of 
sand,  is  visible  at  a  great  distance  from  over  the  sea. 
Sailors  making  the  land  commonly  steer  either  by  the 
wind-mills  or  the  meeting-houses.  In  the  country,  we 
are  obliged  to  steer  by  the  meeting-houses  alone.     Yet 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  31 

the  meeting-house  is  a  kind  of  wind-mill,  which  runs  one 
day  in  seven,  turned  either  by  the  winds  of  doctrine  or 
pubhc  opinion,  or  more  rarely  by  the  winds  of  Heaven, 
where  another  sort  of  grist  is  ground,  of  which,  if  it  be 
not  all  bran  or  musty,  if  it  be  not  plaster,  we  trust  to 
make  bread  of  life. 

There  were,  here  and  there,  heaps  of  shells  in  the 
fields,  where  clams  had  been  opened  for  bait ;  for  Orleans 
is  famous  for  its  shell-fish,  especially  clams,  or,  as  our 
author  says,  "to  speak  more  properly,  worms."  The 
shores  are  more  fertile  than  the  dry  land.  The  in- 
habitants measure  their  crops,  not  only  by  bushels  of 
com,  but  by  barrels  of  clams.  A  thousand  barrels  of 
clam-bait  are  counted  as  equal  in  value  to  six  or  eight 
thousand  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  and  once  they  were 
procured  without  more  labor  or  expense,  and  the  supply 
was  thought  to  be  inexhaustible.  "  For,"  runs  the  his- 
tory, "  after  a  portion  of  the  shore  has  been  dug  over, 
and  almost  all  the  clams  taken  up,  at  the  end  of  two 
years,  it  is  said,  they  are  as  plenty  there  as  ever.  It  is 
even  aflBrmed  by  many  persons,  that  it  is  as  necessary 
to  stir  the  clam  ground  frequently  as  it  is  to  hoe  a  field 
of  potatoes ;  because,  if  this  labor  is  omitted,  the  clams 
will  be  crowded  too  closely  together,  and  will  be  pre- 
vented from  increasing  in  size."  But  we  were  told  that 
the  small  clam,  Mya  arenaria,  was  not  so  plenty  here  as 
formerly.  Probably  the  clam-ground  has  been  stirred 
too  frequently,  after  all.  Nevertheless,  one  man,  who 
complained  that  they  fed  pigs  with  them  and  so  made 
them  scarce,  told  me  that  he  dug  and  opened  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  dollars*  worth  in  one  winter,  in 
Truro. 

We  crossed  a  brook,  not  more  than  fourteen  rods  long, 


32  CAPE  COD. 

between  Orleans  and  Eastham,  called  Jeremiah's  Gutter. 
The  Atlantic  is  said  sometimes  to  meet  the  Bay  here, 
and  isolate  the  northern  part  of  the  Cape.  The  streams 
of  the  Cape  are  necessarily  formed  on  a  minute  scale, 
since  there  is  no  room  for  them  to  run,  without  tumbling 
immediately  into  the  sea ;  and  beside,  we  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  run  ourselves  in  that  sand,  when  there  was  no 
want  of  room.  Hence,  the  least  channel  where  water 
runs,  or  may  run,  is  important,  and  is  dignified  with 
a  name.  We  read  that  there  is  no  running  water  in 
Chatham,  which  is  the  next  town.  The  barren  aspect 
of  the  land  would  hardly  be  believed  if  described.  It 
was  such  soil,  or  rather  land,  as,  to  judge  from  appear- 
ances, no  farmer  in  the  interior  would  think  of  cultivat- 
ing, or  even  fencing.  Generally,  the  ploughed  fields  of 
the  Cape  look  white  and  yellow,  like  a  mixture  of  salt  and 
Indian  meal.  This  is  called  soil.  All  an  inlander's  no- 
tions of  soil  and  fertility  will  be  confounded  by  a  visit  to 
these  parts,  and  he  will  not  be  able,  for  some  time  after- 
ward, to  distinguish  soil  from  sand.  The  historian  of 
Chatham  says  of  a  part  of  that  town,  which  has  been 
gained  from  the  sea :  "  There  is  a  doubtful  appearance 
of  a  soil  beginning  to  be  formed.  It  is  styled  doubtful, 
because  it  would  not  be  observed  by  every  eye,  and  per- 
haps not  acknowledged  by  many."  We  thought  that 
this  would  not  be  a  bad  description  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  Cape.  There  is  a  "beach"  on  the  west  side  of 
Eastham,  which  we  crossed  the  next  summer,  half  a  mile 
wide,  and  stretching  across  the  township,  containing 
seventeen  hundred  acres,  on  which  there  is  not  now  a 
particle  of  vegetable  mould,  though  it  formerly  produced 
wheat.  All  sands  are  here  called  "beaches,"  whether 
they  are  waves  of  watin*  or  of  air,  that  dash  against 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  33 

them,  since  they  commonly  have  their  origin  on  the  shore. 
"  The  sand  in  some  places,"  says  the  historian  of  East- 
ham,  "lodging  against  the  beach-grass,  has  been  raised 
into  hills  fifty  feet  high,  where  twenty-five  years  ago  no 
hills  existed.  In  others  it  has  filled  up  small  valleys, 
and  swamps.  Where  a  strong  rooted  bush  stood,  the 
appearance  is  singular  :  a  mass  of  earth  and  sand  ad- 
heres to  it,  resembling  a  small  tower.  In  several  places, 
roeks,  which  were  formerly  covered  with  soil,  are  dis- 
closed, and  being  lashed  by  the  sand,  driven  against  them 
by  the  wind,  look  as  if  they  were  recently  dug  from  a 
quarry." 

We  were  surprised  to  hear  of  the  great  crops  of  com 
which  are  still  raised  in  Eastham,  notwithstanding  the 
real  and  apparent  barrenness.  Our  landlord  in  Orleans 
had  told  us  that  he  raised  three  or  four  hundred  bushels 
of  corn  annually,  and  also  of  the  great  number  of  pigs 
which  he  fattened.  In  Champlain's  "Voyages,"  there 
is  a  plate  representing  the  Indian  cornfields  hereabouts, 
with  their  wigwams  in  the  midst,  as  they  appeared  in 
1605,  and  it  was  here  that  the  Pilgrims,  to  quote  their 
own  words,  "  bought  eight  or  ten  hogsheads  of  com  and 
beans"  of  the  Nauset  Indians,  in  1622,  to  keep  them- 
selves from  starving.*    "  In  1667  the  town  [of  Eastham] 

•  They  touched  affer  this  at  a  place  called  Mattachiest,  where  they 
got  more  corn ;  but  their  shallop  being  cast  away  in  a  storm,  the 
Governor  was  obliged  to  return  to  Plymouth  on  foot,  fifty  miles 
through  the  woods.  According  to  Mourt's  Relation,  "  he  came  safely 
home,  though  weary  and  surbated,'^  that  is,  foot-sore.  (Ital.  tobaltere, 
Lat.  sub  or  toUa  battere,  to  bruise  the  soles  of  the  feet ;  v.  Die. 
Not  "  from  acerbatus,  embittered  or  aggrieved,"  as  one  commentator 
on  this  passage  supposes.)  This  word  is  of  very  rare  occurrence, 
being  applied  only  to  governors  and  persons  of  like  description,  who 
are  in  that  predicament ;  though  such  generally  have  considerable 
mileage  allowed  them,  and  might  save  their  soles  if  they  cared. 
•    2*  o 


34  CAPE  COD. 

voted  that  every  hou'-ekeeper  should  kill  twelve  black- 
birds or  three  crows,  which  did  great  damage  to  the  com ; 
and  this  vote  was  repeated  for  many  years."  In  1695 
an  additional  order  was  passed,  namely,  that  "  every  un- 
married man  in  the  township  shall  kill  six  blackbirds,  or 
three  crows,  while  he  remains  single  ;  as  a  penalty  for 
not  doing  it,  shall  not  be  married  until  he  obey  this 
order."  The  blackbirds,  however,  still  molest  the  corn. 
I  saw  them  at  it  the  next  summer,  and  there  were  many 
scarecrows,  if  not  scare-blackbirds,  in  the  fields,  which  I 
often  mistook  for  men.  From  which  I  concluded,  that 
either  many  men  were  not  married,  or  many  blackbirds 
were.  Yet  they  put  but  three  or  four  kernels  in  a  hill, 
and  let  fewer  plants  remain  than  we  do.  In  the  account 
of  Eastham,  in  the  "  Historical  Collections,"  printed  in 
1802,  it  is  said,  that  "  more  corn  is  produced  than  the 
inhabitants  consume,  and  about  a  thousand  bushels  are 
annually  sent  to  market.  The  soil  being  free  from 
stones,  a  plough  passes  through  it  speedily  ;  and  after  the 
corn  has  come  up,  a  small  Cape  horse,  somewhat  larger 
than  a  goat,  will,  with  the  assistance  of  two  boys,  easily 
hoe  three  or  four  acres  in  a  day ;  several  farmers  are 
accustomed  to  produce  five  hundred  bushels  of  grain  an- 
nually, and  not  long  since  one  raised  eight  hundred 
bushels  on  sixty  acres."  Similar  accounts  are  given  to-' 
day ;  indeed,  the  recent  accounts  are  in  some  instances 
suspectable  repetitions  of  the  old,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  their  statements  are  as  often  founded  on  the  excep- 
tion as  the  rule,  and  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
acres  are  as  barren  as  they  appear  to  be.  It  is  suffi- 
ciently remarkable  that  any  crops  can  be  raised  here, 
and  it  may  be  owing,  as  others  have  suggested,  to  the 
amount  of  moisture  in  the  atmosphere,  the  warmth  of 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  35 

the  sand,  and  the  rareness  of  frosts.  A  miller,  who  was 
sharpening  his  stones,  told  me  that,  forty  years  ago,  he 
had  been  to  a  husking  here,  where  five  hundred  bushels 
were  husked  in  one  evening,  and  the  corn  was  piled  six 
feet  high  or  more,  in  the  midst,  but  now,  fifteen  or 
eighteen  bushels  to  an  acre  were  an  average  yield.  I 
never  saw  fields  of  such  puny  and  unpromising  looking 
com,  as  in  this  town.  Probably  the  inhabitants  are  con- 
tented with  small  crops  from  a  great  surface  easily 
cultivated.  It  is  not  always  the  most  fertile  land  that  is 
the  most  profitable,  and  this  sand  may  repay  cultivation, 
as  well  as  the  fertile  bottoms  of  the  West.  It  is  said, 
moreover,  that  the  vegetables  raised  in  the  sand,  without 
manure,  are  remarkably  sweet,  the  pumpkins  especially, 
though  when  their  seed  is  planted  in  the  interior  they 
soon  degenerate.  I  can  testify  that  tlie  vegetables  here, 
when  they  succeed  »t  all,  look  remarkably  green  and 
healthy,  though  perhaps  it  is  partly  by  contrast  with  the 
sand.  *  Yet  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  towns,  generally, 
do  not  raise  their  own  meal  or  pork.  Their  gardens  are 
commonly  little  patches,  that  have  been  jedeemed  from 
the  edges  of  the  marshes  and  swamps. 

All  the  morning  we  had  heard  the  sea  roar  on  the 
eastern  shore,  which  was  several  miles  distant ;  for  it 
still  felt  the  effects  of  the  storm  in  which  the  St.  John 
was  wrecked,  —  though  a  school-boy,  whom  we  overtook, 
hardly  knew  what  we  meant,  his  ears  were  so  used  to  it. 
He  would  have  more  plainly  heard  the  same  sound  in 
a  shell.  It  was  a  very  inspiriting  sound  to  walk  by,  fill- 
ing the  whole  air,  that  of  the  sea  dashing  against  the 
land,  heard  several  miles  inland.  Instead  of  having  a 
dog  to  growl  before  your  door,  to  have  an  Atlantic  Ocean 
to  growl  for  a  whole  Cape  !     On  the  whole,  we  were  glad 


86  CAPE  COD. 

of  the  storm,  which  would  show  us  the  ocean  in  its 
angriest  mood.  Charles  Darwin  was  assured  that  the 
roar  of  the  surf  on  the  coast  of  Chiloe,  after  a  heavy- 
gale,  could  be  heard  at  night  a  distance  of  "21  sea  miles 
across  a  hilly  and  wooded  country."  We  conversed 
with  the  boy  we  have  mentioned,  who  might  have  been 
eight  years  old,  making  him  walk  the  while  under  the 
lee  of  our  umbrella  ;  for  we  thought  it  as  important  to 
know  what  was  life  on  the  Cape  to  a  boy  as  to  a  man. 
We  learned  from  him  where  the  best  grapes  were  to  be 
found  in  that  neighborhood.  He  was  carrying  his  dinner 
in  a  pail  ;  and,  without  any  impertinent  questions  being 
put  by  us,  it  did  at  length  appear  of  what  it  consisted. 
The  homeliest  facts  are  always  the  most  acceptable  to 
an  inquiring  mind.  At  length,  before  we  got  to  East- 
ham  meeting-house,  we  left  the  road  and  struck  across 
the  country  for  the  eastern  shore  at  Nauset  Lights, — 
three  lights  close  together,  two  or  three  miles  distant 
from  us.  They  were  so  many  that  they  might  b6  dis- 
tinguished from  others  ;  but  this  seemed  a  shiftless  and 
costly  way  of  accomplishing  that  object.  We  found 
ourselves  .  at  once  on  an  apparently  boundless  plain, 
without  a  tree  or  a  fence,  or,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
a  house  in  sight.  Instead  of  fences,  the  earth  was  some- 
times thrown  up  into  a  slight  ridge.  My  companion 
compared  it  to  the  rolling  prairies  of  Illinois.  In  the 
storm  of  wind  and  rain  which  raged  when  we  traversed 
it,  it  no  doubt  appeared  more  vast  and  desolate  than  it 
really  is.  As  there  were  no  hills,  but  only  here  and 
there  a  dry  hollow  in  the  midst  of  the  waste,  and  the 
distant  horizon  was  concealed  by  mist,  we  did  not  know 
whether  it  was  high  or  low.  A  solitary  traveller,  whom 
we  saw  perambulating  in  the  distance,  loomed  like  a 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  37 

giant.  He  appeared  to  walk  slouchingly,  as  if  held  up 
from  above  by  straps  under  his  shoulders,  as  much  as 
supported  by  the  plain  below.  Men  and  boys  would 
have  appeared  alike  at  a  little  distance,  there  being  no 
object  by  which  to  measure  them.  Indeed,  to  an  in- 
lander, the  Cape  landscape  is  a  constant  mirage.  This 
kind  of  country  extended  a  mile  or  two  each  way.  These 
were  the  "  Plains  of  Nauset,"  once  covered  with  wood, 
where  in  winter  the  winds  howl  and  the  snow  blows 
right  merrily  in  the  face  of  the  traveller.  I  was  glad  to 
have  got  out  of  the  towns,  where  I  am  wont  to  feel  un- 
speakably mean  and  disgraced,  —  to  have  left  behind  me 
for  a  season  the  bar-rooms  of  Massachusetts,  where  the 
full-grown  are  not  weaned  from  savage  and  filthy  hab- 
its, —  still  sucking  a  cigar.  My  spirits  rose  in  propor- 
tion to  the  outward  dreariness.  The  towns  need  to  be 
ventilated.  The  gods  would  be  pleased  to  see  some  pure 
flames  from  their  altars.  They  are  not  to  be  appeased 
with  cigar-smoke. 

As  we  thus  skirted  the  back-side  of  the  towns,  for  we 
did  not  enter  any  village,  till  we  got  to  Provincetown, 
we  read  their  histories  under  our  umbrellas,  rarely  meet- 
ing anybody.  The  old  accounts  are  the  richest  in  topog- 
raphy, which  was  what  we  wanted  most ;  and,  indeed, 
in  most  things  else,  for  I  find  that  the  readable  parts  of 
the  modem  accounts  of  these  towns  consist,  in  a  great 
measure,  of  quotations,  acknowledged  and  unacknowl- 
edged, from  the  older  ones,  without  any  additional  infor- 
mation of  equal  interest;  —  town  histories,  which  at 
length  run  into  a  history  of  the  Church  of  that  place, 
that  being  the  only  story  they  have  to  tell,  and  conclude 
by  quoting  the  Latin  epitaphs  of  the  old  pastors,  having 
been  written  in  the  good  old  days  of  Latin  and  of  Greek. 


88  CAPE  COD. 

They  will  go  back  to  the  ordination  of  every  minister, 
and  tell  you  faithfully  who  made  the  introductory  prayer, 
and  who  delivered  the  sermon  ;  who  made  the  ordaining 
prayer,  and  who  gave  the  charge ;  who  extended  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  who  pronounced  the  bene- 
diction ;  also  how  many  ecclesiastical  councils  convened 
from  time  to  time  to  inquire  into  the  orthodoxy  of  some 
minister,  and  the  names  of  all  who  composed  them.  As 
it  will  take  us  an  hour  to  get  over  this  plain,  and  there 
is  no  variety  in  the  prospect,  peculiar  as  it  is,  I  will  read 
a  little  in  the  history  of  Eastham  the  while. 

When  the  committee  from  Plymouth  had  purchased 
the  territory  of  Eastham  of  the  Indians,  "it  was  de- 
manded, who  laid  claim  to  Billingsgate  ?  "  which  was  un- 
derstood to  be  all  that  part  of  the  Cape  north  of  what 
they  had  purchased.  "  The  answer  was,  there  was  not 
any  who  owned  it.  '  Then,*  said  the  committee,  '  that 
land  is  ours.*  The  Indians  answered,  that  it  was."  This 
was  a  remarkable  assertion  and  admission.  The  Pilgrims 
appear  to  have  regarded  themselves  as  Not  Any's  repre- 
sentatives. Perhaps  this  was  the  first  instance  of  that 
quiet  way  of  "  speaking  for  "  a  place  not  yet  occupied, 
or  at  least  not  improved  as  much  as  it  may  be,  which 
their  descencjants  have  practised,  and  are  still  practising 
so  extensively.  Not  Any  seems  to  have  been  the  sole 
proprietor  of  all  America  before  the  Yankees.  But  his- 
tory says,  that  when  the  Pilgrims  had  held  the  lands  of 
Billingsgate  many  years,  at  length,  "  appeared  an  Indian, 
who  styled  himself  Lieutenant  Anthony,"  who  laid  claim 
to  them,  and  of  him  they  bought  them.  Who  knows 
but  a  Lieutenant  Anthony  may  be  knocking  at  the  door 
of  the  White  House  some  day  ?  At  any  rate,  I  know 
that  if  you  hold  a  thing  unjustly,  there  will  surely  be 
the  devil  to  pay  at  last. 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  89 

Thomas  Prince,  who  was  several  times  the  governor 
of  the  Plymouth  colony,  was  the  leader  of  the  settlement 
of  Eastham.  There  was  recently  standing,  on  what  was 
once  his  farm,  in  this  town,  a  pear-tree  which  is  said  to 
have  been  brought  from  England,  and  planted  there  by 
him,  about  two  hundred  years  ago.  It  was  blown  down 
a  few  months  before  we  were  there.  A  late  account 
says  that  it  was  recently  in  a  vigorous  state ;  the  fruit 
small,  but  excellent ;  and  it  yielded  on  an  average  fifteen 
bushels.  Some  appropriate  lines  have  been  addressed 
to  it,  by  a  Mr.  Heman  Doane,  from  which  I  will  quote, 
partly  because  they  are  the  only  specimen  of  Cape  Cod 
verse  which  I  remember  to  have  seen,  and  partly  because 
they  are  not  bad. 

"  Two  hundred  years  have,  on  the  wings  of  Time, 

Passed  with  their  joys  and  woes,  since  thou,  Old  Tree  I 
Put  forth  thy  first  leaves  in  this  foreign  climo, 
Transplanted  from  tne  soil  beyond  the  sea. 

•  •  •  •  • 

[These  stars  represent  the  more  clerical  lines,  and 
also  those  which  have  deceased.] 

*'  That  exiled  band  long  since  have  passed  away, 
And  still,  Old  Tree !  thou  standest  in  the  place 
Where  Prince's  hand  did  plant  thee  in  his  day,  — 

An  undesigned  memorial  of  his  race 
And  time;  of  those  our  honored  fathers,  when 

They  came  from  Plymouth  o'er  and  settled  here ; 
Doane,  Higgins,  Snow,  and  other  worthy  men. 
Whose  names  their  sons  remember  to  revere. 
•  •  »  * 

"  Old  Time  has  thinned  thy  boughs.  Old  Pilgrim  Tree! 
And  bowed  thee  with  the  weight  of  many  years ; 
Yet,  'mid  the  frosts  of  age,  thy  bloom  we  see, 
And  yearly  still  thy  mellow  fruit  appears." 

There  are  some  other  lines  which  I  might  quote,  if 


40  CAPE  COD. 

they  were  not  tied  to  unworthy  companions,  by  the 
rhyme.  When  one  ox  will  lie  down,  the  yoke  bears 
hard  on  him  that  stands  up. 

One  of  the  first  settlers  of  Eastham  was  Deacon  John 
Doane,  who  died  in  1707,  aged  one  hundred  and  ten. 
Tradition  says  that  he  was  rocked  in  a  cradle  several  of 
his  last  years.  That,  certainly,  was  not  an  Achillean 
life.  His  mother  must  have  let  him  slip  when  she  dip- 
ped him  into  the  liquor  which  was  to  make  him  invul- 
nerable, and  he  went  in,  heels  and  all.  Some  of  the 
stone-bounds  to  his  farm,  which  he  set  up,  are  standing 
to-day,  with  his  initials  cut  in  them. 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  this  town  interested  us 
somewhat.  It  appears  that  "  they  very  early  built  a 
small  meeting-house,  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  thatched 
roof  through  which  they  might  fire  their  muskets,"  —  of 
course,  at  the  Devil.  "In  1662,  the  town  agreed  that 
a  part  of  every  whale  cast  on  shore  be  appropriated  for 
the  support  of  the  ministry."  No  doubt  there  seemed 
to  be  some  propriety  in  thus  leaving  the  support  of 
the  ministers  to  Providence,  whose  servants  they  are, 
and  who  alone  rules  the  storms;. for,  when  few  whales 
were  cast  up,  they  might  suspect  that  their  worship 
was  not  acceptable.  The  ministers  must  have  sat  upon 
the  cliffs  in  every  storm,  and  watched  the  shore  with 
anxiety.  And,  for  my  part,  if  I  were  a  minister,  I 
would  rather  trust  to  the  bowels  of  the  billows,  on  the 
back-side  of  Cape  Cod,  to  cast  up  a  whale  for  me,  than 
to  the  genefosity  of  many  a  country  parish  that  I  know. 
You  cannot  say  of  a  country  minister's  salary,  commonly, 
that  it  is  "  very  like  a  whale."  Nevertheless,  the  minis- 
ter who  depended  on  whales  cast  up  must  have  had  a 
trying  time  of  it.    I  would  rather  have  gone  to  the  Falk- 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  41 

land  Isles  with  a  harpoon,  and  done  with  it.  Think  of 
a  whale  having  the  breath  of  life  beaten  out  of  him  by 
a  storm,  and  dragging  in  over  the  bars  and  guzzles,  for 
the  support  of  the  ministry  !  What  a  consolation  it 
must  have  been  to  him  !  I  have  heard  of  a  minister, 
who  had  been  a  fisherman,  being  settled  in  Bridgewater 
for  as  long  a  time  as  he  could  tell  a  cod  from  a  haddock. 
Generous  as  it  seems,  this  condition  would  empty  most 
country  pulpits  forthwith,  for  it  is  long  since  the  fishers 
of  men  were  fishermen.  Also,  a  duty  was  put  on  mack- 
erel here  to  support  a  free-school ;  in  other  words,  the 
mackerel-school  was  taxed  in  order  that  the  children's 
school  might  be  free.  "In  1665  the  Court  passed  a 
law  to  inflict  corporal  punishment  on  all  persons,  who 
resided  in  the  towns  of  this  government,  who  denied  the 
Scriptures."  Think  of  a  man  being  whipped  on  a  spring 
morning,  till  he  was  constrained  to  confess  that  the 
Scriptures  were  true  !  "  It  was  also  voted  by  the  town, 
that  all  persons  who  should  stand  out  of  the  meeting- 
house during  the  time^of  divine  service  should  be  set  in 
the  stocks."  It  behooved  such  a  town  to  see  that  sitting 
in  the  Aeeting-house  was  nothing  akin  to  sitting  in  the 
stocks,  lest  the  penalty  of  obedience  to  the  law  might  be 
greater  than  that  of  disobedience.  This  was  the  East- 
ham  famous  of  late  years  for  its  camp-meetings,  held  in 
a  grove  near  by,  to  which  thousands  flock  from  all  parts 
of  the  Bay.  We  conjectured  that  the  reason  for  the 
perhaps  unusual,  if  not  unhealthful  development  of  the 
religious  sentiment  here,  was  the  fact  that  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  population  are  women  whose  husbands  and 
sons  are  either  abroad  on  the  sea,  or  else,  drowned,  and 
there  is  nobody  but  they  and  the  ministers  left  behind. 
The  old  account  says  that  "  hysteric  fits  are  very  com- 


42  CAPE  COD. 

mon  in  Orleans,  Fastham,  and  the  towns  below,  partic- 
ularly on  Sunday,  in  the  times  of  divine  service.  When 
one  woman  is  affected,  five  or  six  others  generally  sym- 
pathize with  her ;  and  the  congregation  is  thrown  into 
the  utmost  confusion.  Several  old  men  suppose,  un- 
philosophically  and  uncharitably,  perhaps,  that  the  will 
is  partly  concerned,  and  that  ridicule  and  threats  would 
have  a  tendency  to  prevent  the  evil."  How  this  is  now 
we  did  not  learn.  We  saw  one  singularly  masculine 
woman,  however,  in  a  house  on  this  very  plain,  who  did 
not  look  as  if  she  was  ever  troubled  with  hysterics,  or 
sympathized  with  those  that  were;  or,  perchance,  life 
itself  was  to  her  a  hysteric  fit,  —  a  Nauset  woman,  of  a 
hardness  and  coarseness  such  as  no  man  ever  possesses 
or  suggests.  It  was  enough  to  see  the  vertebrae  and 
sinews  of  her  neck,  and  her  set  jaws  of  iron,  which 
would  have  bitten  a  board-nail  in  two  in  their  ordinary 
action,  —  braced  against  the  world,  talking  like  a  man- 
of-war's-man  in  petticoats,  or  as  if  shouting  to  you 
through  a  breaker ;  who  looked  as  if  it  made  her  head 
ache  to  live ;  hard  enough  for  any  enormity.  I  looked 
upon  her  as  one  who  had  committed  infanticide ;  who 
never  had  a  brother,  unless  it  were  some  wee  thing  that 
died  in  infancy,  —  for  what  need  of  him  ?  —  and  whose 
father  must  have  died  before  she  was  bom.  This  wo- 
man told  us  that  the  camp-meetings  were  not  held  the 
previous  summer  for  fear  of  introducing  the  cholera,  and 
that  they  would  have  been  held  earlier  this  summer,  but 
the  rye  was  so  backward  that  straw  would  not  have  been 
ready  for  them  ;  for  they  lie  in  straw.  There  are  some- 
times one  hundred  and  fifty  ministers,  (!)  and  five  thou- 
sand hearers,  assembled.  The  ground,  which  is  called 
Millennium  Grove,  is  owned  by  a  company  in  Boston, 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  43 

and  is  the  most  suitable,  or  rather  unsuitable,  for  this 
purpose  of  any  that  I  saw  on  the  Cape.  It  is  fenced, 
and  the  frames  of  the  tents  are,  at  all  times,  to  be  seen 
interspersed  among  the  oaks.  They  have  an  oven  and 
a  pump,  and  keep  all  their  kitchen  utensils  and  tent 
coverings  and  furniture  in  a  permanent  building  on  the 
spot.  They  select  a  time  for  their  meetings  when  the 
moon  is  full.  A  man  is  appointed  to  clear  out  the  pump 
a  week  beforehand,  while  the  ministers  are  clearing  their 
throats  ;  but,  probably,  the  latter  do  not  always  deliver 
as  pure  a  stream  as  the  former.  I  saw  the  heaps  of 
clam-shells  left  under  the  tables,  where  they  had  feasted 
in  previous  summers,  and  supposed,  of  course,  that  that 
was  the  work  of  the  unconverted,  or  the  backsliders  and 
scoffers.  It  looked  as  if  a  camp-meeting  must  be  a  sin- 
gular combination  of  a  prayer-meeting  and  a  picnic. 

The  first  minister  settled  here  was  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Treat,  in  1672,  a  gentleman  who  is  said  to  be  "  entitled 
to  a  distinguished  rank  among  the  evangelists  of  New 
England."  He  converted  many  Indians,  as  well  as 
white  men,  in  his  day,  and  translated  the  Confession  of 
Faith  into  the  Nauset  language.  These  were  the  In- 
dians concerning  whom  their  first  teacher,  Richard 
Bourne,  wrote  to  Grookin,  in  1674,  that  he  had  been  to 
see  one  who  was  sick,  "  and  there  came  from  him  very 
savory  and  heavenly  expressions,**  but,  with  regard  to 
the  mass  of  them,  he  «ays,  "the  truth  is,  that  many 
of  them  are  very  loose  in  their  course,  to  my  heart- 
breaking sorrow."  Mr.  Treat  is  described  as  a  Calvinist 
of  the  strictest  kind,  not  one  of  those  who,  by  giving  up 
or  explaining  away,  become  like  a  porcupine  disarmed 
of  its  quills,  but  a  consistent  Calvinist,  who  can  dart  his 
quills  to  a  distance   and  courageously  defend   him^^elf. 


44  CAPE  COD. 

There  exists  a  volume  of  his  sermons  in  manuscript, 
"  which,"  says  a  commentator,  "  appear  to  have  been 
designed  for  publication."  I  quote  the  following  sen- 
tences at  second  hand,  from  a  Discourse  on  Luke  xvi. 
23,  addressed  to  sinners :  — 

"  Thou  must  erelong  go  to  the  bottomless  pit.  Hell 
hath  enlarged  herself,  and  is  ready  to  receive  thee. 
There  is  room  enough  for  thy  entertainment.  .... 

"  Consider,  thou  art  going  to  a  place  prepared  by  God 
on  purpose  to  exalt  his  justice  in,  —  a  place  made  for  no 
other  employment  but  torments.  Hell  is  God's  house 
of  correction  ;  and,  remember,  God  doth  all  things  like 
himself.  When  God  would  show  his  justice,  and  what 
is  the  weight  of  his  wrath,  he  makes  a  hell  where  it 

shall,  indeed,  appear  to  purpose Woe  to  thy  soul 

when  thou  shalt  be  set  up  as  a  butt  for  the  arrows  of  the 
Almighty 

"  Consider,  God  himself  shall  be  the  principal  agent 
in  thy  misery,  —  his  breath  is  the  bellows  which  blows 
up  the  flame  of  hell  forever ;  —  and  if  he  punish  thee, 
if  he  meet  thee  in  his  fury,  he  will  not  meet  thee  as 
a  man  ;  he  will  give  thee  an  omnipotent  blow." 

"  Some  think  sinning  ends  with  this  life ;  but  it  is 
a  mistake.  The  creature  is  held  under  an  everlasting 
law ;  the  damned  increase  in  sin  in  hell.  Possibly,  the 
mention  of  this  may  please  thee.  But,  remember,  there 
shall  be  no  pleasant  sins  there';  no  eating,  drinking, 
singing,  dancing,  wanton  dalliance,  and  drinking  stolen 
waters :  but  damned  sins,  bitter,  hellish  sins ;  sins  ex- 
asperated by  torments,  cursing  God,  spite,  rage,  and 
blasphemy.  —  The  guilt  of  all  thy  sins  shall  be  laid 
upon  thy  soul,  and  be  made  so  many  heaps  of  fuel 

"Sinner,  I  beseech  thee,  realize  the  truth  of  these 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  45 

things.  Do  not  go  about  to  dream  that  this  is  de- 
rogatory to  God's  mercy,  and  nothing  but  a  vain  fable 
to  scare  children  out  of  their  wits  withal.  God  can  be 
merciful,  though  he  make  thee  miserable.  He  shall 
have  monuments  enough  of  that  precious  attribute,  shin- 
ing like  stars  in  the  place  of  glory,  and  singing  eternal 
hallelujahs  to  the  praise  of  Him  that  redeemed  them, 
though,  to  exalt  tlie  power  of  his  justice,  he  damn  sin- 
ners heaps  upon  heaps." 

"  But,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "  with  the  advan- 
tage of  proclaiming  the  doctrine  of  terror,  which  is  nat- 
urally productive  of  a  sublime  and  impressive  style  of 
eloquence  ('  Triumphat  ventoso  gloriae  curru  orator, 
qui  pectus  angit,  irritat,  et  implet  terroribus.*  Vid. 
Burnet,  De  Stat.  Mort.,  p.  309),  he  could  not  attain 
the  character  of  a  popular  .preacher.  His  voice  was  so 
loud,  that  it  could  be  heard  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
meeting-house,  even  amidst  the  shrieks  of  hysterical 
women,  and  the  winds  that  howled  over  the  plains  of 
Nauset ;  but  there  was  no  more  music  in  it  than  in  the 
discordant  sounds  with  which  it  was  mingled." 

"  The  effect  of  such  preaching,"  it  is  said,  "  was  that 
his  hearers  were  several  times,  in  the  course  of  his  min- 
istry, awakened  and  alarmed  ;  and  on  one  occasion  a 
comparatively  innocent  young  man  was  frightened  nearly 
out  of  his  wits,  and  Mr.  Treat  had  to  exert  himself  to 
make  hell  seem  somewhat  cooler  to  him  " ;  yet  we  are 
assured  that  "  Treat's  manners  were  cheerful,  his  con- 
versation pleasant,  and  sometimes  facetious,  but  always 
decent.  He  was  fond  of  a  stroke  of  humor,  and  a  prac- 
tical joke,  and  manifested  his  relish  for  them  by  long 
and  loud  fits  of  laughter." 

This  was  the  man  of  whom  a  well-known  anecdote  is 


46  CAPE  COD. 

told,  which  doubtless  many  of  my  readers  have  heard, 
but  which,  nevertheless,  I  will  venture  to  quote :  — 

"  After  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Willard 
(pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston),  he  was  some- 
times invited  by  that  gentleman  to  preach  in  his  pulpit. 
Mr.  Willard  possessed  a  graceful  delivery,  a  masculine 
and  harmonious  voice ;  and,  though  he  did  not  gain 
much  reputation  by  his  *  Body  of  Divinity,'  which  is 
frequently  sheered  at,  particularly  by  those  who  have 
read  it,  yet  in  his  sermons  are  strength  of  thought  and 
energy  of  language.  The  natural  consequence  was  that 
he  was  generally  admired.  Mr.  Treat  having  preached 
one  of  his  best  discourses  to  the  congregation  of  his 
father-in-law,  in  his  usual  unhappy  manner,  excited  uni- 
versal disgust;  and  several  nice  judges  waited  on  Mr. 
Willard,  and  begged  that  Mr.  Treat,  who  was  a  worthy, 
pious  naan,  it  was  true,  but  a  wretched  preacher,  might 
never  be  invited  into  his  pulpit  again.  To  this  request 
Mr.  Willard  made  no  reply ;  but  he  desired  his  son-in- 
law  to  lend  him  the  discourse ;  which,  being  left  with 
him,  he  delivered  it  without  alteration  to  his  people  a 
few  weeks  after.  They  ran  to  Mr.  Willard  and  request- 
ed a  copy  for  the  press.  *  See  the  difference,'  they 
cried,  '  between  yourself  and  your  son-in-law ;  you  have 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  same  text  as  Mr.  Treat's,  but 
whilst  his  was  contemptible,  yours  is  excellent.'  As 
is  observed  in  a  note,  '  Mr.  Willard,  after  producing  the 
^rmon  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Treat,  might  have 
addressed  these  sage  critics  in  the  words  of  Phaedrus, 

*  En  hie  declarat,  quales  sitis  judices.'  "  * 

Mr.  Treat  died  of  a  stroke  of  the  palsy,  just  after  the 

*  Lib.  V.  Fab.  5. 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  47 

memorable  storm  known  as  the  Great  Snow,  which  left 
the  ground  around  his  house  entirely  bare,  but  heaped  up 
the  snow  in  the  road  to  an  uncommon  height.  Through 
this  an  arched  way  was  dug,  by  which  the  Indians  bore 
his  body  to  the  grave. 

The  reader  will  imagine  us,  all  the  while,  steadily 
traversing  that  extensive  plain  in  a  direction  a  little 
north  of  east  toward  Nauset  Beach,  and  reading  under 
our  umbrellas  as  we  sailed,  while  it  blowed  hard  with 
mingled  mist  and  rain,  as  if  we  were  approaching  a  fit 
anniversary  of  Mr.  Treat's  funeral.  We  fancied  that 
it  was  such  a  moor  as  that  on  which  somebody  perished 
in  the  snow,  as  is  related  in  the  "  Lights  and  Shadows 
of  Scottish  Life." 

The  next  minister  settled  here  was  the  "  Rev.  Samuel 
Osbom,  who  was  bom  in  Ireland,  and  educated  at  the 
University  of  Dublin."  He  is  said  to  have  been  "  A 
man  of  wisdom  and  virtue,"  and  taught  his  people  the 
use  of  peat,  and  the  art  of  drying  and  preparing  it, 
which  as  they  had  scarcely  any  other  fuel,  was  a  great 
blessing  to  them.  He  also  introduced  improvements  in 
agriculture.  But,  notwithstanding  his  many  services, 
as  he  embraced  the  religion  of  Arminius,  some  of  his 
flock  became  dissatisfied.  At  length,  an  ecclesiastical 
council,  consisting  of  ten  ministers,  with  their  churches, 
sat  upon  him,  and  they,  naturally  enough,  spoiled  his 
usefulness.  The  council  convened  at  the  desire  of  two 
divine  philosophers,  —  Joseph  Doane  and  Nathaniel 
Freeman. 

In  their  report  they  say,  "  It  appears  to  the  council 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Osborn  hath,  in  his  preaching  to  this 
people,  said,  that  what  Christ  did  and  suffered  doth 
nothing  abate  or  diminish  our  obligation  to  obey  the 


48  CAPE   COD. 

law  of  God,  and  that  Christ's  suffering  and  obedience 
were  for  himself;  both,  parts  of  which,  we  think,  con- 
tain dangerous  error." 

**  Also :  *  It  hath  been  said,  and  doth  appear  to  this 
council,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Osborn,  both  in  public  and 
in  private,  asserted  that  there  are  no  promises  in  the 
Bible  but  what  are  conditional,  which  we  think,  also, 
to  be  an  error,  and  do  say  that  there  are  promises  which 
are  absolute  and  without  any  condition,  —  such  as  the 
promise  of  a  new  heart,  and  that  he  will  write  his  law 
in  our  hearts.*" 

"Also,  they  say,  'it  hath  been  alleged,  and  doth  appear 
to  us,  that  Mr.  Osborn  hath  declared,  that  obedience  is 
a  considerable  cause  of  a  person's  justification,  which, 
we  think,  contains  very  dangerous  error.' " 

And  many  the  like  distinctions  they  made,  such  as 
some  of  my  readers,  probably,  are  more  familiar  with 
than  I  am.  So,  far  in  the  East,  among  the  Yezidis,  or 
Worshippers  of  the  Devil,  so-called,  the  Chaldaeans,  and 
others,  according  to  the  testimony  of  travellers,  you 
may  still  hear  these  remarkable  disputations  on  doc- 
trinal points  going  on.  Osborn  was,  accordingly,  dis- 
missed, and  he  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  kept  school 
for  many  years.  But  he  was  fully  justified,  methinks, 
by  his  works  in  the  peat-meadow;  one  proof  of  which 
is,  that  he  lived  to  be  between  ninety  and  one  hundred 
years  old. 

The  next  minister  was  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Webb,  of 
whom,  though  a  neighboring  clergyman  pronounced  him 
"the  best  man  and  the  best  minister  whom  he  ever 
knew,"  yet  the  historian  says,  that, 

"  As  he  spent  his  days  in  the  uniform  discharge  of 
his   duty  (it  reminds   one   of  a  country   muster)   and 


THE  PLAINS  OF  NAUSET.  49 

there  were  no  shades  to  give  relief  to  his  character,  not 
much  can  be  said  of  him.  (Pity  the  Devil  did  not  plant 
a  few  shade-trees  along  his  avenues.)  His  heart  was 
as  pure  as  the  new-fallen  snow,  which  completely  covers 
every  dark  spot  in  a  field ;  his  mind  was  as  serene  as 
the  sky  in  a  mild  evening  in  June,  when  the  moon 
shines  without  a  cloud.  Name  any  virtue,  and  that 
virtue  he  practise'd;  name  any  vice,  and  that  vice  he 
shunned.  But  if  peculiar  qualities  marked  his  char- 
acter, they  were  his  humility,  his  gentleness,  and  his 
love  of  God.  The  people  had  long  been  taught  by  a 
son  of  thunder  (Mr.  Treat)  :  in  him  they  were  in- 
structed by  a  son  of  consolation,  who  sweetly  allured 
them  to  virtue  by  soft  persuasion,  and  by  exhibiting 
the  mercy  of  the  Supreme  Being;  for  his  thoughts 
were  so  much  in  heaven,  that  they  seldom  descended 
to  the  dismal  regions  below ;  and  though  of  the  same 
religious  sentiments  as  Mr.  Treat,  yet  his  attention 
was  turned  to  those  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  which 
a  Saviour  came  to  publish." 

We  were  interested  to  hear  that  such  a  man  had  trod- 
den the  plains  of  Nauset 

Turning  over  further  in  our  book,  our  eyes  fell  on  the 
name  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Bascom,  of  Orleans:  "Senex 
emunctae  naris,  doctus,  et  auctor  elegantium  verborum, 
facetus,  et  dulcis  festique  sermonis."  And,  again,  on 
that  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Stone,  of  Dennis :  "  Vir  humilis, 
mitis,  blandus,  advenarum  hospes ;  (there  was  need  of 
him  there  ;)  suis  commodis  in  terra  non  studens,  recon- 
ditis  thesauris  in  ccelo."  An  easy  virtue  that,  there,  for 
methinks  no  inhabitant  of  Dennis  could  be  very  studious 
about  his  earthly  commodity,  but  must  regard  the  bulk 
of  his  treasures  as  in  heaven.     But  probably  the  most 

3  D 


50  CAPE  COD. 

just  and  pertinent  character  of  all  is  that  which  appears 
to  be  given  to  the  Rev.  Ephraim  Briggs,  of  Chatham, 
in  the  language  of  the  later  Romans,  "  Seip,  sepoese, 
sepoemese,  wechekum,^*  —  which  not  being  interpreted, 
we  know  not  what  it  means,  though  we  have  no  doubt 
it  occurs  somewhere  in  the  Scriptures,  probably  in  the 
Apostle  Eliot's  Epistle  to  the  Nipmucks. 

Let  no  one  think  that  I  do  not  love'  the  old  ministers. 
They  were,  probably,  the  best  men  of  their  generation, 
and  they  deserve  that  their  biographies  should  fill  the 
pages  of  the  town  histories.  If  I  could  but  hear  the 
"  glad  tidings  "  of  which  they  tell,  and  which,  perchance, 
they  heard,  I  might  write  in  a  worthier  strain  than 
this. 

There  was  no  better  way  to  make  the  reader  realize 
how  wide  and  peculiar  that  plain  was,  and  how  long 
it  took  to  traverse  it,  than  by  inserting  these  extracts 
in  the  midst  of  my  narrative. 


IV. 
THE    BEACH 


At  length  we  reached  the  seemingly  retreating  boun- 
dary of  the  plain,  and  entered  what  had  appeared  at 
a  distance  an  upland  marsh,  but  proved  to  be  dry  sand 
covered  with  Beach-grass,  the  Bearberry,  Bayberry, 
Shrub-oaks,  and  Beach-plum,  slightly  ascending  as  we  ap- 
proached the  shore  ;  then,  crossing  over  a  belt  of  sand  on 
which  nothing  grew,  though  the  roar  of  the  sea  sounded 
scarcely  louder  than  before,  and  we  were  prepared  to  go 
half  a  mile  farther,  we  suddenly  stood  on  the  edge  of  a 
bluff  overlooking  the  Atlantic.  Far  below  us  was  the 
beach,  from  half  a  dozen  to  a  dozen  rods  in  width,  with 
a  long  line  of  breakers  rushing  to  the  strand.  The  sea 
was  exceedingly  dark  and  stormy,  the  sky  completely 
overcast,  the  clouds  still  dropping  rain,  and  the  wind 
seemed  to  blow  not  so  much  as  the  exciting  cause,  as 
from  sympathy  with  the  already  agitated  ocean.  The 
waves  broke  on  the  bai*s  at  some  distance  from  the  shore, 
and  curving  green  or  yellow  as  if  over  so  many  unseen 
dams,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  like  a  thousand  waterfalls, 
rolled  in  foam  to  the  sand.  There  was  nothing  but  that 
savage  ocean  between  us  and  Europe. 

Having  got  down  the  bank,  and  as  close  to  the  water 
as  we  could,  where  the  ^nd  was  the  hardest,  leaving  the 


52  CAPE   COD. 

Nauset  Lights  behini  us,  we  began  to  walk  leisurely  up 
the  beach,  in  a  northwest  direction,  toward  Province- 
town,  which  was  about  twenty-five  miles  distant,  still 
sailing  under  our  umbrellas  with  a  strong  aft  wind,  ad- 
miring in  silence,  as  we  walked,  the  great  force  of  the 
ocean  stream,  — 

•n-orafioio  ^leya  (rOevos  ^QKeavoio. 

The  white  breakers  were  rushing  to  the  shore  ;  the  foam 
rah  up  the  sand,  and  then  ran  back  as  far  as  we  could 
see  (and  we  imagined  how  much  farther  along  the  At- 
lantic coast,  before  and  behind  us),  as  regularly,  to  com- 
pare great  things  with  small,  as  the  master  of  a  choir 
beats  time  with  his  white  wand ;  and  ever  and  anon  a 
higher  wave  caused  us  hastily  to  deviate  from  our  path, 
and  we  looked  back  on  our  tracks  filled  with  water  and 
foam.  The  breakers  looked  like  droves  of  a  thousand 
wild  horses  of  Neptune,  rushing  to  the  shore,  with  their 
white  manes  streaming  far  behind  ;  and  when,  at  length, 
the  sun  shone  for  a  moment,  their  manes  were  rainbow- 
tinted.  Also,  the  long  kelp-weed  was  tossed  up  from 
time  to  time,  like  the  tails  of  sea-cows  sporting  in  the 
brine. 

There  was  not  a  sail  in  sight,  and  we  saw  none  that 
day,  —  for  they  had  all  sought  harbors  in  the  late  storm, 
and  had  not  been  able  to  get  out  again ;  and  the  only 
human  beings  whom  we  saw  on  the  beach  for  several 
days,  were  one  or  two  wreckers  looking  for  drift-wood, 
and  fragments  of  wrecked  vessels.  After  an  easterly 
storm  in  the  spring,  this  beach  is  sometimes  strewn  with 
eastern  wood  from  one  end  to  the  other,  which,  as  it 
belongs  to  him  who  saves  it,  and  the  Cape  is  nearly  des- 
titute of  wood,  is  a  Godsend  to  the  inhabitants.     We 


THE  BEACH.  53 

soon  met  one  of  these  wreckers,  —  a  regular  Cape  Cod 
man,  with  whom  we  parleyed,  with  a  bleached  and 
weather-beaten  face,  within  whose  wrinkles  I  distin- 
guished no  particular  feature.  It  was  like  an  old  sail 
endowed  with  life,  —  a  hanging-cliff  of  weather-beaten 
flesh,  —  like  one  of  the  clay  bowlders  which  occurred  in 
that  sand-bank.  He  had  on  a  hat  which  had  seen  salt 
water,  and  a  coat  of  many  pieces  and  colors,  though  it 
was  mainly  the  color  of  the  beach,  as  if  it  had  been 
sanded.  His  variegated  back  —  for  his  coat  had  many 
patches,  even  between  the  shoulders  —  was  a  rich  study 
to  us,  when  we  had  passed  him  and  looked  round.  It 
might  have  been  dishonorable  for  him  to  have  so  many 
scars  behind,  it  is  true,  if  he  had  not  had  many  more 
and  more  serious  ones  in  front.  He  looked  as  if  he 
sometimes  saw  a  doughnut,  but  never  descended  to  com- 
fort ;  too  grave  to  laugh,  too  tough  to  cry  ;  as  indifferent 
as  a  clam,  —  like  a  sea-clam  with  bat  on  and  legs,  that  was 
out  walking  the  strand.  He  may  have  been  one  of  the 
Pilgrims,  —  Peregrine  White,  at  least,  —  who  has  kept 
on  the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  and  let  the  centuries  go 
by.  He  was  looking  for  wrecks,  old  logs,  water-logged 
and  covered  with  barnacles,  or  bits  of  boai-ds  and  joists, 
even  chips  which  he  drew  out  of  the  reach  of  the  tide, 
and  stacked  up  to  dry.  When  the  log  was  too  large  to 
carry  far,  he  cut  it  up  where  the  last  wave  had  left  it,  or 
rolling  it  a  few  feet,  appropriated  it  by  sticking  two  sticks 
into  the  ground  crosswise  above  it.  Some  rotten  trunk, 
which  in  Maine  cumbers  the  ground,  and  is,  perchance, 
thrown  into  the  water  on  purpose,  is  here  thus  carefully 
picked  up,  split  and  dried,  and  husbanded.  Before  win- 
ter the  wrecker  painfully  carries  these  things  up  the  bank 
on  his  shoulders  by  a  long  diagonal  slanting  path  made 


54  CAPE  COD. 

with  a  hoe  in  the  sane",  if  there  is  no  hollow  at  hand.  You 
may  see  his  hooked  pike-staff  always  lying  on  the  bank 
ready  for  use.  He  is  the  true  monarch  of  the  beach, 
whose  "right  there  is  none  to  dispute,"  and  he  is  as 
much  identified  with  it  as  a  beach-bird. 

Crantz,  in  his  account  of  Greenland,  quotes  Dalagen's 
relation  of  the  ways  and  usages  of  the  Greenlanders, 
and  says,  "  Whoever  finds  drift-wood,  or  the  spoils  of  a 
shipwreck  on  the  strand,  enjoys  it  as  his  own,  though  he 
does  not  live  there.  But  he  must  haul  it  ashore  and  lay 
a  stone  upon  it,  as  a  token  that  some  one  has  taken  pos- 
session of  it,  and  this  stone  is  the  deed  of  security,  for 
no  other  Greenlander  will  offer  to  meddle  with  it  after- 
wards." Such  is  the  instinctive  law  of  nations.  We 
have  also  this  account  of  drift-wood  in  Crantz :  "  As 
he  (the  Founder  of  Nature)  has  denied  this  frigid  rocky 
region  the  growth  of  trees,  he  has  bid  the  streams  of  the 
Ocean  to  convey  to  its  shores  a  great  deal  of  wood,  which 
accordingly  comes  floating  thither,  part  without  ice,  but 
the  most  part  along  with  it,  and  lodges  itself  between  the 
islands.  Were  it  not  for  this,  we  Europeans  should  have 
no  wood  to  burn  there,  and  the  poor  Greenlanders  (who, 
it  is  true,  do  not  use  wood,  but  train,  for  burning)  would, 
however,  have  no  wood  to  roof  their  houses,  to  erect 
their  tents,  as  also  to  build  their  boats,  and  to  shaft  their 
arrows,  (yet  there  grew  some  small  but  crooked  alders, 
&c.,)  by  which  they  must  procure  their  maintenance, 
clothing  and  train  for  warmth,  light,  and  cooking.  Among 
this  wood  are  great  trees  torn  up  by  the  roots,  which  by 
driving  up  and  down  for  many  years  and  rubbing  on  the 
ice,  are  quite  bare  of  branches  and  bark,  and  corroded 
with  great  wood-worms.  A  small  part  of  this  drift- 
wood are  willows,  alder  and  birch  trees,  which  come  out 


THE  BEACH.  55 

of  the  bays  in  the  south  (i.  e.  of  Greenland)  ;  also  large 
trunks  of  aspen-trees,  which  must  come  from  a  greater 
distance  ;  but  the  greatest  part  is  pine  and  fir.  We  find 
also  a  good  deal  of  a  sort  of  wood  finely  veined,  with 
few  branches ;  this  I  fancy  is  larch-wood,  which  likes  to 
decorate  the  sides  of  lofty,  stony  mountains.  There  is 
also  a  solid,  reddish  wood,  of  a  more  agreeable  fragrance 
than  the  common  fir,  with  visible  cross-veins ;  which  I 
take  to  be  the  same  species  as  the  beautiful  silver-firs,  or 
zirhel,  that  have  the  smell  of  cedar,  and  grow  on  the 
high  Grison  hills,  and  the  Switzers  wainscot  their  rooms 
with  them."  The  wrecker  directed  us  to  a  slight  depres- 
sion, called  -Snow's  Hollow,  by  which  we  ascended  the 
bank,  —  for  elsewhere,  if  not  difficult,  it  was  inconvenient 
to  chmb  it  on  account  of  the  sliding  sand,  which  filled 
our  shoes. 

This  sand-bank  —  the  backbone  of  the  Cape  —  rose 
directly  from  the  beach  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet  or 
more  above  the  ocean.  It  was  with  singular  emotions 
that  we  first  stood  upon  it  and  discovered  what  a  place 
we  had  chosen  to  walk  on.  On  our  right,  beneath  us, 
was  the  beach  of  smooth  and  gently-sloping  sand,  a 
dozen  rods  in  width ;  next,  the  endless  series  of  white 
breakers ;  further  still,  the  light  green  water  over  the 
bar,  which  runs  the  whole  length  oi  the  forearm  of  the 
Cape,  and  beyond  this  stretched  the  unwearied  and 
illimitable  ocean.  On  our  left,  extending  back  from  the 
very  edge  of  the  bank,  was  a  perfect  desert  of  shining 
sand,  from  thirty  to  eighty  rods  in  width,  skirted  in  the 
distance  by  small  sand-hills  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high  ; 
between  which,  however,  in  some  places,  the  sand  pene- 
trated as  much  farther.  Next  commenced  the  region  of 
vegetation,  —  a  auccession  of  small  hills  and  valleys  cov- 


66  CAPE  COD. 

ered  with  shrubbery^  now  glowing  with  the  brightest 
imaginable  autumnal  tints ;  and  beyond  this  were  seen, 
here  and  there,  the  waters  of  the  bay.  Here,  in  Well- 
fleet,  this  pure  sand  plateau,  known  to  sailors  as  the 
Table  Lands  of  Eastham,  on  account  of  its  appearance, 
as  seen  from  the  ocean,  and  because  it  once  made  a  part 
of  that  town,  —  full  fifty  rods  in  width,  and  in  many 
places  much  more,  and  sometimes  full  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  above  the  ocean,  —  stretched  away  north- 
ward from  the  southern  boundary  of  the  town,  without 
a  particle  of  vegetation,  —  as  level  almost  as  a  table,  — 
for  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles,  or  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach  ;  slightly  rising  towards  the  ocean,  then 
stooping  to  the  beach,  by  as  steep  a  slope  as  sand  could' 
lie  on,  and  as  regular  as  a  military  engineer  could  desire. 
It  was  like  the  escarped  rampart  of  a  stupendous  for- 
tress, whose  glacis  was  the  beach,  and  whose  champaign 
the  ocean,  —  From  its  surface  we  overlooked  the  greater 
part  of  the  Cape.  In  short,  we  were  traversing  a  desert, 
with  the  view  of  an  autumnal  landscape  of  extraordinary 
brilliancy,  a  sort  of  Promised  Land,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  ocean  on  the  other.  Yet,  though  the  prospect 
was  so  extensive,  and  the  country  for  the  most  part  des- 
titute of  trees,  a  house  was  rarely  visible,  —  we  never 
saw  one  from  the  beach,  —  and  the  solitude  was  that  of  the 
ocean  and  the  desert  combined.  A  thousand  men  could 
not  have  seriously  interrupted  it,  but  would  have  been 
lost  in  the  vastness  of  the  scenery  as  their  footsteps  in 
the  sand. 

The  whole  coast  is  so  free  from  rocks,  that  we  saw 
but  one  or  two  for  more  than  twenty  miles.  The  sand 
was  soft  like  the  beach,  and  trying  to  the  eyes,  when  the 
sun  shone.    A  few  piles  of  drift-wood,  which  some  wreck- 


THE  BEACH.  57 

ers  had  painfully  brought  up  the  bank  and  stacked  up 
there  to  dry,  being  the  only  objects  in  the  desert,  looked 
indefinitely  large  and  distant,  even  like  wigwams,  though, 
when  we  stood  near  them,  they  proved  to  be  insignificant 
little  "jags  "  of  wood. 

For  sixteen  miles,  commencing  at  the  Nauset  Lights, 
the  bank  held  its  height,  though  farther  north  it  was  not 
so  level  as  here,  but  interrupted  by  slight  hollows,  and 
the  patches  of  Beach-grass  and  Bayberry  frequently  crept 
into  the  sand  to  its  edge.  There  are  some  pages  entitled 
"  A  Description  of  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the  County  of 
Barnstable,"  printed  in  1802,  pointing  out  the  spots  on 
which  the  Trustees  of  the  Humane  Society  have  erected 
huts  called  Charity  or  Humane  Houses,  "and  other 
places  where  shipwrecked  seamen  may  look  for  shelter." 
Two  thousand  copies  of  this  were  dispersed,  that  every 
vessel  which  frequented  this  coast  might  be  provided 
with  one.  I  have  read  this  Shipwrecked  Seaman's  Man- 
ual with  a  melancholy  kind  of  interest,  —  for  the  sound 
of  the  surf,  or,  you  might  say,  the  moaning  of  the  sea,  is 
heard  all  through  it,  as  if  its  author  were  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  a  shipwreck  himself.  Of  this  part  of  the  coast 
he  says:  "This  highland  approaches  the  ocean  with 
steep  and  lofty  banks,  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
climb,  especially  in  a  storm.  In  violent  tempests,  during 
very  high  tides,  the  sea  breaks  against  the  foot  of  them, 
rendering  it  then  unsafe  to  walk  on  the  strand  which  lies 
between  them  and  the  ocean.  Should  the  seaman  suc- 
ceed in  his  attempt  to  ascend  them,  he  must  forbear  to 
penetrate  into  the  country,  as  houses  are  generally  so 
remote  that  they  would  escape  his  research  during  the 
night;  he  must  pass  on  to  the  valleys  by  which  the 
banks  are  intersected.  These  valleys,  which  the  inhab- 
3* 


58  CAPE  COD. 

itants  call  Hollows,  run  at  right  angles  with  the  shore, 
and  in  the  middle  or  lowest  part  of  them  a  road  leads 
from  the  dwelling-houses  to  the  sea."  By  the  word 
road  must  not  always  be  understood  a  visible  cart- 
track. 

There  were  these  two  roads  for  us,  —  an  upper  and 
a  lower  one,  —  the  bank  and  the  beach  ;  both  stretching 
twenty-eight  miles  northwest,  from  Nauset  Harbor  ^o 
Race  Point,  without  a  single  opening  into  the  beach, 
and  with  hardly  a  serious  interruption  of  the  desert.  If 
you  were  to  ford  the  narrow  and  shallow  inlet  at  Nauset 
Harbor,  where  there  is  not  more  than  eight  feet  of  water 
on  the  bar  at  full  sea,  you  might  walk  ten  or  twelve 
miles  farther,  which  would  make  «  beach  forty  miles 
long,  —  and  the  bank  and  beach,  on  the  east  side  of 
Nantucket,  are  but  a  continuation  of  these.  I  was  com- 
paratively satisfied.  There  I  had  got  the  Cape  under 
me,  as  much  as  if  I  were  riding  it  bare-backed.  It  was 
not  as  on  the  map,  or  seen  from  the  stage-coach;  but 
there  I  found  it  all  out  of  doors,  huge  and  real,  Cape 
Cod !  as  it  cannot  be  represented  on  a  map,  color  it  as 
you  will ;  the  thing  itself,  than  which  there  is  nothing 
more  like  it,  no  truer  picture  or  account ;  which  you  can- 
not go  farther  and  see.  I  cannot  remember  what  I 
thought  before  that  it  was.  They  commonly  celebrate 
those  beaches  only  which  have  a  hotel  on  them,  not 
those  which  have  a  humane  house  alone.  But  I  wished 
to  see  that  seashore  where  man's  works  are  wrecks ;  to 
put  up  at  the  true  Atlantic  House,  where  the  ocean  is 
land-lord  as  well  as  sea-lord,  and  comes  ashore  without  a 
wharf  for  the  landing ;  where  the  crumbling  land  is  the 
only  invahd,  or  at  best  is  but  dry  land,  and  that  is  all 
you  can  say  of  it. 


THE  BEACH.  59 

We  walked  on  quite  at  our  leisure,  now  on  the  beach, 
now  on  the  bank,  —  sitting  from  time  to  time  on  some 
damp  log,  maple  or  yellow  birch,  which  had  long  fol- 
lowed the  seas,  but  had  now  at  last  settled  on  land ;  or 
under  the  lee  of  a  sand-hill,  on  the  bank,  that  we  might 
gaze  steadily  on  the  ocean.  The  bank  was  so  steep, 
that,  where  there  was  no  danger  of  its  caving,  we  sat  on 
its  edge  as  on  a  bench.  It  was  difficult  for  us  landsmen 
to  look  out  over  the  ocean  without  imagining  land  in  the 
horizon ;  yet  the  clouds  appeared  to  hang  low  over  it, 
and  rest  on  the  water  as  they  never  do  on  the  land,  per- 
haps on  account  of  the  great  distance  to  which  we  saw. 
The  sand  was  not  without  advantage,  for,  though  it 
was  "  heavy  "  walking  in  it,  it  was  soft  to  the  feet ;  and, 
notwithstanding  that  it  had  been  raining  nearly  two  days, 
when  it  held  up  for  half  an  hour,  the  sides  of  the  sand- 
hills, which  were  porous  and  sliding,  afforded  a  dry  seat. 
All  the  aspects  of  this  desert  are  beautiful,  whether  you 
behold  it  in  fair  weather  or  foul,  or  when  the  sun  is  just 
breaking  out  after  a  storm,  and  shining  on  its  moist  sur- 
face in  the  distance,  it  is  so  white,  and  pure,  and  level, 
and  each  slight  inequality  and  track  is  so  distinctly 
revealed;  and  when  your  eyes  slide  oflf  this,  they  fall 
on  the  ocean.  In  summer  the  mackerel  gulls  —  which 
here  have  their  nests  among  the  neighboring  sand-hills 
—  pursue  the  traveller  anxiously,  now  and  then  diving 
close  to  his  head  with  a  squeak,  and  he  may  see  them, 
like  swallows,  chase  some  crow  which  has  been  feeding 
on  the  beach,  almost  across  the  Cape. 

Though  for  some  time  I  have  not  spoken  of  the  roar- 
ing of  the  breakers,  and  the  ceaseless  flux  and  reflux  of 
the  waves,  yet  they  did  not  for  a  moment  cease  to  dash 
and  roar,  with  such  a  tumult  that,  if  you  had  been  there, 


60  CAPE  COD. 

you  could  scarcely  have  heard  my  voice  the  while ;  and 
they  are  dashing  and  roaring  this  very  moment,  though 
it  may  be  with  less  din  and  violence,  for  there  the  sea 
never  rests.  We  were  wholly  absorbed  by  this  spec- 
tacle and  tumult,  and  like  Chryses,  though  in  a  different 
mood  from  him,  we  walked  silent  along  the  shore  of  the 
resounding  sea. 

B^  d*  aK€(ov  vapa  ffiva  noXvcfAoia-^oio  Bakdararjs.* 

I  put  in  a  little  Greek  now  and  then,  partly  because 
it  sounds  so  much  like  the  ocean,  —  though  I  doubt  if 
Homer's  3fediierranean  Sea  ever  sounded  so  loud  as 
this. 

The  attention  of  those  who  frequent  the  camp-meet- 
ings at  Eastham  is  said  to  be  divided  between  the 
preaching  of  the  Methodists  and  the  preaching  of  the 
billows  on  the  backside  of  the  Cape,  for  they  all  stream 
over  here  in  the  course  of  their  stay.  I  trust  that  in 
this  case  the  loudest  voice  carries  it.  With  what  effect 
may  we  suppose  the  ocean  to  say,  "  My  hearers ! "  to  the 
multitude  on  the  bank!  On  that  side  some  John  N* 
Maffit;  on  this,  the  Reverend  Poluphloisboios  Tha- 
lassa. 

There  was  but  little  weed  cast  up  here,  and  that  kelp 
chiefly,  there  being  scarcely  a  rock  for  rockweed  to  ad- 
here to.  Who  has  not  had  a  vision  from  some  vessel's 
deck,  when  he  had  still  his  land-legs  on,  of  this  great 
brown  apron,  drifting  half  upright,  and  quite  submerged 
through  the  green  water,  clasping  a  stone  or  a  deep-sea 
mussel  in  its  unearthly  fingers  ?     I  have  seen  it  carry- 

*  We  have  no  word  in  English  to  express  the  sound  of  many  waves, 
dashing  at  once,  whether  gently  or  violently,  7roAu«^Aofo-/3oios  to  the  ear, 
and,  in  the  ocean's  gentle  moods,  an  avdpi.9iJLov  yeXao-fxa  to  the  eye. 


THE  BEACH.  61 

ing  a  stone  half  as  large  as  my  head.  "We  sometimes 
watched  a  mass  of  this  cable-like  weed,  as  it  was  tossed 
up  on  the  crest  of  a  breaker,  waiting  with  interest  to  see 
it  come  in,  as  if  there  was  some  treasure  buoyed  up  by 
it ;  but  we  were  always  surprised  and  disappointed  at  the 
insignificance  of  the  mass  which  had  attracted  «us.  As 
we  looked  out  over  the  water,  the  smallest  objects  float- 
ing on  it  appeared  indefinitely  large,  we  were  so  im- 
pressed by  the  vastness  of  the  ocean,  and  each  one  bore 
80  large  a  proportion  to  the  whole  ocean,  which  we  saw. 
We  were  so  often  disappointed  in  the  size  of  such  things 
as  came  ashore,  the  ridiculous  bits  of  wood  or  weed,  with 
which  the  ocean  labored,  that  we  began  to  doubt  whether 
the  Atlantic  itself  would  bear  a  still  closer  inspection, 
and  would  not  turn  out  to  be  but  a  small  pond,  if  it 
should  come  ashore  to  us.  This  kelp,  oar-weed,  tangle, 
devirs-apron,  sole-leather,  or  ribbon-weed,  —  as  various 
species  are  called,  —  appeared  to  us  a  singularly  marine 
and  fabulous  product,  a  fit  invention  for  Neptune  to 
adorn  his  car  with,  or  a  freak  of  Proteus.  All  that 
is  told  of  the  sea  has  a  fabulous  sound  to  an  inhabitant 
of  the  land,  and  all  its  products  have  a  certain  fabulous 
quality,  as  if  they  belonged  to  another  planet,  from 
sea-weed  to  a  sailor's  yam,  or  a  fish-story.  In  this  ele- 
ment the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  meet  and  are 
strangely  mingled.  One  species  of  kelp,  according  to 
Bory  St.  Vincent,  has  a  stem  fifteen  hundred  feet  long, 
and  hence  is  the  longest  vegetable  known,  and  a  brig's 
crew  spent  two  days  to  no  purpose  collecting  the  trunks 
of  another  kind  cast  ashore  on  the  Falkland  Islands, 
mistaking  it  for  drift-wood.  (See  Harvey  on  AlgcB.) 
This  species  looked  ahnost  edible ;  at  least,  I  thought  that 
if  I  were  starving  I  would  try  it.     One  sailor  told  me 


62  CAPE  COD. 

that  the  cows  ate  it.  It  cut  like  cheese ;  for  I  took  the 
earliest  opportunity  to  sit  down  and  deUberately  whittle 
up  a  fathom  or  two  of  it,  that  I  might  become  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  it,  see  how  it  cut,  and  if  it 
were  hollow  all  the  way  through.  The  blade  looked 
like  a  bfoad  belt,  whose  edges  had  been  quilled,  or  as  if 
stretched  by  hammering,  and  it  was  also  twisted  spirally. 
The  extremity  was  generally  worn  and  ragged  from  the 
lashing  of  the  waves.  A  piece  of  the  stem  which  I 
carried  home  shrunk  to  one  quarter  of  its  size  a  week 
afterward,  and  was  completely  covered  with  crystals  of 
salt  like  frost.  The  reader  will  excuse  my  greenness,  — 
though  it  is  not  sea-greenness,  like  his,  perchance,  —  for 
I  live  by  a  river  shore,  where  this  weed  does  not  wash 
up.  When  we  consider  in  what  meadows  it  grew,  and 
how  it  was  raked,  and  in  what  kind  of  hay  weather 
got  in  or  out,  we  may  well  be  curious  about  it.  One 
who  is  weather-wise  has  given  the  following  account 
of  the  matter. 

"  When  descends  on  the  Atlantic 
The  gigantic 
Storm-wind  of  the  equinox, 
Landward  in  his  wrath  he  scourges 

The  toiling  surges, 
Laden  with  sea-weed  from  the  rocks. 

''From  Bermuda's  reefs,  from  edges 
Of  sunken  ledges, 
On  some  far-off  bright  Azore; 
From  Bahama  and  the  dashing, 
Silver-flashing 
Surges  of  San  Salvador; 

"  From  the  trembling  surf  that  buries 
The  Orkneyan  Skerries, 
Answering  the  hoarse  Hebrides; 
And  from  wrecks  and  ships  and  drifting 
Spars,  uplifting 
On  the  desolate  rainy  seas; 


THE  BEACH.  63 

"Ever  drifting,  drifting,  drifting 
On  the  shifting 
Currents  of  the  restless  main." 

But  he  was  not  thinking  of  this  shore,  when  he  add- 
ed:— 

"  Till,  in  sheltered  coves  and  reaches 
Of  sandy  beaches, 
All  have  found  repose  again." 

These  weeds  were  the  symbols  of  those  grotesque  and 
fabulous  thoughts  which  have  not  yet  got  into  the  shel- 
tered coves  of  literature. 

."  Ever  drifting,  drifting,  drifting 
On  the  shifting 
Currents  of  the  restless  heart," 
Attd  not  yet  '^  in  books  recorded 
They,  like  hoarded 
Household  words,  no  more  depart." 

The  beach  was  also  strewn  with  beautiful  sea-jellies, 
which  the  wreckers  called  Sun-squall,  one  of  the  lowest 
forms  of  animal  life,  some  white,  some  wine-colored,  and 
a  foot  in  diameter.  I  at  first  thought  that  they  were 
a  tender  part  of  some  marine  monster,  which  the  storm 
or  some  other  foe  had  mangled.  What  right  has  the 
sea  to  bear  iii  its  bosom  such  tender  things  as  sea-jellies 
and  mosses,  when  it  has  such  a  boisterous  shore,  that 
the  stoutest  fabrics  are  wrecked  against  it?  Strange 
that  it  should  undertake  to  dandle  such  delicate  children 
in  its  arm.  I  did  not  at  first  recognize  these  for  the 
same  which  I  had  formerly  seen  in  myriads  in  Boston 
Harbor,  rising,  with  a  waving  motion,  to  the  surface, 
as  if  to  meet  the  sun,  and  discoloring  the  waters  far  and 
wide,  so  that  I  seemed  to  be  sailing  through  a  mere  sun- 
fish  soup.  They  say  that  when  you  endeavor  to  take 
one  up,  it  will  spill  out  the  other  side  of  your  hand  like 


64  CAPE  COD. 

quicksilver.  Before  the  land  rose  out  of  the  ocean,  and 
became  dry  land,  chaos  reigned ;  and  between  high  and 
low  water  mark,  where  she  is  partially  disrobed  and  ris- 
ing, a  sort  of  chaos  reigns  still,  which  only  anomalous 
creatures  can  inhabit.  Mackerel-gulls  were  all  the  while 
flying  over  our  heads  and  amid  the  breakers,  sometimes 
two  white  ones  pursuing  a  black  one ;  quite  at  home  in 
the  storm,  though  they  are  as  delicate  organizations  as 
sea-jellies  and  ^mosses ;  and  we  saw  that  they  were  adapt- 
ed to  their  circumstances  rather  by  their  spirits  than  their 
bodies.  Theirs  must  be  an  essentially  wilder,  that  is, 
less  human,  nature  than  that  of  larks  and  robins.  Their 
note  was  like  the  sound  of  some  vibrating  metal,  and 
harmonized  well  with  the  scenery  and  the  roar  of  the 
surf,  as  if  one  had  rudely  touched  the  strings  of  the 
lyre,  which  ever  lies  on  the  shore ;  a  ragged  shred  of 
ocean  music  tossed  aloft  on  the  spray.  But  if  I  were 
required  to  name  a  sound,  the  remembrance  of  which 
most  perfectly  revives  the  impression  which  the  beach 
has  made,  it  would  be  the  dreary  peep  of  the  piping 
plover  (  Gharadrius  melodus)  which  haunts  there.  Their 
voices,  too,  are  heard  as  a  fugacious  part  in  the  dirge 
which  is  ever  played  along  the  shore  for  those  mariners 
who  have  been  lost  in  the  deep  since  first  it  was  created. 
But  through  all  this  dreariijess  we  seemed  to  have  a 
pure  and  unqualified  strain  of  eternal  melody,  for  always 
the  same  strain  which  is  a  dirge  to  one  household  is  a 
morning  song  of  rejoicing  to  another. 

A  remarkable  method  of  catching  gulls,  derived  from 
the  Indians,  was  practised  in  Wellfleet  in  1794.  "  The 
Gull  House,"  it  is  said,  "  is  built  with  crotchets,  fixed  in 
the  ground  on  the  beach,"  poles  being  stretched  across 
for  the  top,  and  the  sides  made  close  with  stakes  and 


THE  BEACH.  65 

sea-weed.  "  The  poles  on  the  top  are  covered  with  lean 
whale.  The  man  being  placed  within,  is  not  discovered 
by  the  fowls,  and  while  they  are  contending  for  and 
eating  the  flesh,  he  draws  them  in,  one  by  one,  between 
the  poles,  until  he  has  collected  forty  or  fifty."  Hence, 
perchance,  a  man  is  said  to  be  gulled,  when  he  is  taken 
in.  We  read  that  one  "  sort  of  gulls  is  called  by  the 
Dutch  mallemucke,  i.  e.  the  foolish  fly,  because  they  fall 
upon  a  whale  as  eagerly  as  a  fly,  and,  indeed,  all  gulls 
are  foolishly  bold  and  easy  to  be  shot.  The  Norwegians 
call  this  bird  havhest,  sea-horse  {and  the  English  trans- 
lator says,  it  is  probably  what  we  call  boobies).  If  they 
have  eaten  too  much,  they  throw  it  up,  and  eat  it  again 
till  they  are  tired.  It  is  this  habit  in  the  gulls  of  part- 
ing with  their  property  [disgorging  the  contents  of  their 
stomachs  to  the  skuas],  which  has  given  rise  to  the 
terms  gull,  guller,  and  gulling,  among  men.**  We  also 
read  that  they  used  to  kill  small  birds  which  roosted  on 
the  beach  at  night,  by  making  a  fire  with  hog*s  lard  in 
a  frying-pan.  The  Indians  probably  used  pine  torches ; 
the  birds  flocked  to  the  light,  and  were  knocked  down 
with  a  stick.  We  noticed  holes  dug  near  the  edge  of 
the  bank,  where  gunners  conceal  themselves  to  shoot 
the  large  gulls  which  coast  up  and  down  a-fishing,  for 
these  are  considered  good  to  eat. 

We  found  some  large  clams,  of  the  species  Mactra 
solidissima,  which  the  storm  had  torn  up  from  the  bot- 
tom, and  cast  ashore.  I  selected  one  of  the  largest, 
about  six  inches  in  length,  and  carried  it  along,  thinking 
to  try  an  experiment  on  it.  We  soon  after  met  a 
wrecker,  with  a  grapple  and  a  rope,  who  said  that  he 
was  looking  for  tow  cloth,  which  had  made  part  of  the 
cargo  of  the  ship  Franklin,  which  was  wrecked  here  in 


66  CAPE  COD. 

the  spring,  at  which  time  nine  or  ten  lives  were  lost. 
The  reader  may  remember  this  wreck,  from  the  circum- 
stance that  a  letter  was  found  in  the  captain's  valise, 
which  washed  ashore,  directing  him  to  wreck  the  vessel 
before  he  got  to  America,  and  from  the  trial  which  took 
place  in  consequence.  The  wrecker  said  that  tow  cloth 
was  still  cast  up  in  such  storms  as  this.  He  also  told 
us  that  the  clam  which  I  had  was  the  sea-clam,  or  hen, 
and  was  good  to  eat.  We  took  our  nooning  under  a 
sand-hill,  covered  with  beach-grass,  in  a  dreary  little 
hollow,  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  while  it  alternately 
rained  and  shined.  There,  having  reduced  some  damp 
drift-wood,  which  I  had  picked  up  on  the  shore,  to  shav- 
ings with  my  knife,  I  kindled  a  fire  with  a  match  and 
some  paper,  and  cooked  my  clam  on  the  embers  for 
my  dinner ;  for  breakfast  was  commonly  the  only  meal 
which  I  took  in  a  house  on  this  excursion.  When 
the  clam  was  done,  one  valve  held  the  meat  and  the 
other  the  liquor.  Though  it  was  very  tough,  I  found 
it  sweet  and  savory,  and  ate  the  whole  with  a  relish. 
Indeed,  with  the  addition  of  a  cracker  or  two,  it  would 
have  been  a  bountiful  dinner.  I  noticed  that  the  shells 
were  such  as  I  had  seen  in  the  sugar-kit  at  home. 
Tied  to  a  stick,  they  formerly  made  the  Indian's  hoe 
hereabouts. 

At  length,  by  mid-afternoon,  after  we  had  had  two 
or  three  rainbows  over  the  sea,  the  showers  ceased,  and 
the  heavens  gradually  cleared  up,  though  the  wind  still 
blowed  as  hard  and  the  breakers  ran  as  high  as  be- 
fore. Keeping  on,  we  soon  after  came  to  a  Charity- 
house,  which  we  looked  into  to  see  how  the  shipwrecked 
mariner  might  fare.  Far  away  in  some  desolate  hollow 
by  the  sea-side,  just  within  the  bank,  stands  a  lonely 


THE  BEACH.  67 

building  on  piles  driven  into  the  sand,  with  a  slight 
nail  put  through  the  staple,  wliich  a  freezing  man  can 
bend,  with  some  straw,  perchance,  on  the  floor  on  which 
he  may  lie,  or  which  he  may  bum  in  the  fireplace 
to  keep  him  alive.  Perhaps  this  hut  has  never  been 
required  to  shelter  a  shipwrecked  man,  and  the  benevo- 
lent person  who  promised  to  inspect  it  annually,  to  see 
that  the  straw  and  matches  are  here,  and  that  the  boards 
will  keep  off  the  wind,  has  grown  remiss  and  thinks 
that  storms  and  shipwrecks  are  over;  and  this  very 
night  a  perishing  crew  may  pry  open  its  door  with  their 
numbed  fingers  and  leave  half  their  number  dead  here 
by  morning.  When  I  thought  what  must  be  the  con- 
dition of  the  families  which  alone  would  ever  occupy 
or  had  occupied  them,  what  must  have  been  the  tragedy 
of  the  winter  evenings  spent  by  human  beings  around 
their  hearths,  these  houses,  though  they  were  meant  for 
human  dwellings,  did  not  look  cheerful  to  me.  They 
appeared  but  a  stage  to  the  grave.  The  gulls  flew 
around  and  screamed  over  them ;  the  roar  of  the  ocean 
in  storms,  and  the  lapse  of  its  waves  in  calms,  alone 
resounds  through  them,  all  dark  and  empty  within,  year 
in  year  out,  except,  perchance,  on  one  memorable  night. 
Hchises  of  entertainment  for  shipwrecked  men !  What 
kind  of  sailor's  homes  were  they  ? 

"  Each  hut,"  says  the  author  of  the  "  Description  of 
the  Eastern  Coast  of  the  County  of  Barnstable,"  "  stands 
on  piles,  is  eight  feet  long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  seven 
feet  high ;  a  sliding  door  is  on  the  south,  a  sliding 
shutter  on  the  west,  and  a  pole,  rising  fifteen  feet  above 
the  top  of  the  building,  on  the  east.  Within  it  is  sup- 
plied either  with  straw  or  hay,  and  is  further  accommo- 
dated with  a  bench."     They  have  vaiied  little  from  this 


68  CAPE  COD. 

model  now.  There  are  similar  huts  at  the  Isle  of 
Sable  and  Anticosti,  on  the  north,  and  how  far  south 
along  the  coast  I  know  not.  It  is  pathetic  to  read  the 
minute  and  faithful  directions  which  he  gives  to  sea- 
men who  may  be  wrecked  on  this  coast,  to  guide  them 
to  the  nearest  Charity-house,  or  other  shelter,  for,  as 
is  said  of  Eastham,  though  there  are  a  few  houses  with- 
in a  mile  of  the  shore,  yet  "  in  a  snow-storm,  which 
rages  here  with  excessive  fury,  it  would  be  almost 
impossible  to  discover  them  either  by  night  or  by  day." 
You  hear  their  imaginary  guide  thus  marshalling,  cheer- 
ing, directing  the  dripping,  shivering,  freezing  troop 
along;  "at  the  entrance  of  this  valley  the  sand  has 
gathered,  so  that  at  present  a  little  climbing  is  neces- 
sary. Passing  over  several  fences  and  taking  heed 
not  to  enter  the  wood  on  the  right  hand,  at  the  distance 
of  three  quarters  of  a  mile  a  house  is  to  be  found. 
Thi's  house  stands  on  the  south  side  of  the  road,  and 
not  far  from  it  on  the  south  is  Pamet  river,  which  runs 
from  east  to  west  through  a  body  of  salt  marsh."  To 
him  cast  ashore  in  Eastham,  he  says,  "  The  meeting- 
house is  without  a  steeple,  but  it  may  be  distinguished 
from  the  dwelling-houses  near  it  by  its  situation,  which 
is  between  two  small  groves  of  locusts,  one  on  the 
south  and  one  on  the  north,  —  that  on  the  south  being 
three  times  as  long  as  the  other.  About  a  mile  and 
a  quarter  from  the  hut,  west  by  north,  appear  the 
top  and  arms  of  a  windmill."  And  so  on  for  many 
pages. 

We  did  not  learn  whether  these  houses  had  been  the 
means  of  saving  any  lives,  though  this  writer  says,  of 
one  erected  at  the  head  of  Stout's  Creek,  in  Truro,  that 
"  it  was  built  in  an  improper  manner,  having  a  chimney 


THE  BEACH.  69 

in  it ;  and  was  placed  on  a  spot  where  no  beach-grass 
grew.  The  strong  winds  blew  the  sand  from  its  foun- 
dation, and  the  weight  of  the  chimney  brought  it  to  the 
ground  ;  so  that  in  January  of  the  present  year  [1802] 
it  was  entirely  demolished.  This  event  took  place  about 
six  weeks  before  the  Brutus  was  cast  away.  If  it  had 
remained,  it  is  probable  that  the  whole  of  the  unfortunate 
crew  of  that  ship  would  have  been  saved,  as  they  gained 
the  shore  a  few  rods  only  from  the  spot  where  the  hut 
had  stood." 

This  "  Charity-house,"  as  the  wrecker  called  it,  this 
"  Humane  house,"  as  some  call  it,  that  is,  the  ona  to 
which  we  first  came,  had  neither  window  nor  sliding 
shutter,  nor  clapboards,  nor  paint.  As  we  have  said, 
there  was  a  rusty  nail  put  through  the  staple.  However, 
as  we  wished  to  get  an  idea  of  a  Humane  house,  and  we 
hoped  that  we  should  never  have  a  better  opportunity, 
we  put  our  eyes,  by  lums,  to  a  knot-hole  in  the  door, 
and,  after  long  looking,  without  seeing,  into  the  dark,  — 
not  knowing  how  many  shipwrecked  men's  bones  we 
might  see  at  last,  looking  with  the  eye  of  faith,  knowing 
that,  though  to  him  that  knocketh  it  may  not  always  be 
opened,  yet  to  him  that  looketh  long  enough  through  a 
knot-hole  the  inside  shall  be  visible,  —  for  we  had  had 
some  practice  at  looking  inward,  —  by  steadily  keeping 
our  other  ball  covered  from  the  light  meanwhile,  putting 
the  outward  world  behind  us,  ocean  and  land,  and  the 
beach,  —  till  the  pupil  became  enlarged  and  collected  the 
rays  of  light  that  were  wandering  in  that  dark  (for  the 
pupil  shall  be  enlarged  by  looking ;  there  never  was  so 
dark  a  night  but  a  faithful  and  patient  eye,  however 
small,  might  at  last  prevail  over  it),  —  after  all  this,  I 
say,  things  began  to  take  shape  to  our  vision,  —  if  we 


70  CAPE  COD. 

may  use  this  expression  where  there  was  nothing  but 
emptiness,  —  and  we  obtained  the  long-wished-for  in- 
sight. Though  we  thought  at  first  that  it  was  a  hope- 
less case,  after  several  minutes'  steady  exercise  of  the 
divine  faculty,  our  prospects  began  decidedly  to  brighten, 
and  we  were  ready  to  exclaim  with  the  blind  bard  of 
"  Paradise  Lost  and  Regained,"  — 

"  Hail,  holy  Light!  oflfspring  of  Heaven  first  born, 
Or  of  the  Eternal  co-eternal  beam, 
May  I  express  thee  unblamed?  " 

A  little  longer,  and  a  chimney  rushed  red  on  our  sight. 
In  short,  when  our  vision  had  grown  familiar  with  the 
darkness,  we  discovered  that  there  were  some  stones  and 
some  loose  wads  of  wool  on  the  floor,  and  an  empty  fire- 
place at  the  further  end  ;  but  it  was  not  suppUed  with 
matches,  or  straw,  or  hay,  that  we  could  see,  nor  "  ac- 
commodated with  a  bench,"  Indeed,  it  was  the  wreck 
of  all  cosmical  beauty  there  within. 

Turning  our  backs  on  the  outward  world,  we  thus 
looked  through  the  knot-hole. into  the  Humane  house, 
into  the  very  bowels  of  mercy  ;  and  for  bread  we  found 
a  stone.  It  was  literally  a  great  cry  (of  sea-mews  out- 
side), and  a  little  wool.  However,  we  were  glad  to  sit 
outside,  under  the  lee  of  the  Humane  house,  to  escape 
the  piercing  wind ;  and  there  we  thought  how  cold  is 
charity  !  how  inhumane  humanity  !  This,  then,  is  what 
charity  hides  !  Virtues  antique  and  far  away  with  ever 
a  rusty  nail  over  the  latch  ;  and  very  difficult  to  keep  in 
repair,  withal,  it  is  so  uncertain  whether  any  will  ever 
gain  the  beach  near  you.  So  we  shivered  round  about, 
not  being  able  to  get  into  it,  ever  and  anon  looking 
through  the  knot-hole  iiito  that  night  without  a  star,  until 
we  concluded  that  it  was  not  a  humane  house  at  all,  but 


THE  BEACa  71 

a  sea-side  box,  now  shut  up,  belonging  to  some  of  the 
family  of  Night  or  Chaos,  where  they  spent  their  sum- 
mers by  the  sea,  for  the  sake  of  the  sea-breeze,  and  that 
it  was  not  proper  for  us  to  be  prying  into  their  concerns. 
My  companion  had  declared  before  this  that  I  had  not 
a  particle  of  sentiment,  in  rather  absolute  terms,  to  my 
astonishment ;  but  I  suspect  he  meant  that  my  legs  did 
not  ache  just  then,  though  I  am  not  wholly  a  stranger  to 
that  sentiment.  But  I  did  not  intend  this  for  a  senti- 
mental journey. 


V. 
THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN. 


Having  walked  about  eight  miles  since  we  struck  the 
beach,  and  passed  the  boundary  between  Wellfleet  and 
Truro,  a  stone  post  in  the  sand,  —  for  even  this  sand 
comes  under  the  jurisdiction  of  one  town  or  another,  — 
we  turned  inland  over  barren  hills  arid  valleys,  whither 
the  sea,  for  some  reason,  did  not  follow  us,  and,  tracing 
up  a  Hollow,  discovered  two  or  three  sober-looking 
houses  within  half  a  mile,  uncommonly  near  the  eastern 
coast.  Their  garrets  were  apparently  so  full  of  cham- 
bers, that  their  roofs  could  hardly  lie  down  straight,  and 
we  did  not  doubt  that  tliere  was  room  for  us  there. 
Houses  near  the  sea  are  generally  low  and  broad. 
These  were  a  story  and  a  half  high ;  but  if  you  merely 
cpunted  the  windows  in  their  gable-ends,  you  would 
think  that  there  were  many  stories  more,  or,  at  any  rate, 
that  the  half-story  was  the  only  one  thought  worthy  of 
being  illustrated.  The  great  number  of  windows  in  the 
ends  of  the  houses,  and  their  irregularity  in  size  and 
position,  here  and  elsewhere  on  the  Cape,  struck  us 
agreeably,  —  as  if  each  of  the  various  occupants  who 
had  their  cundbula  behind  had  punched  a  hole  where 
his  necessities  required  it,  and,  according  to  his  size  and 
stature,  without  regard  to  outside  effect.     There  were 


THE   WELLFLEET   OYSTEBMAN.  73 

window;*  for  the  grown  folks,  and  windows  for  the  chil- 
dren,—  three  or  four  apiece;  as  a  certain  man  had  a 
large  hole  cut  in  his  barn-door  for  the  cat,  and  another 
smaller  one  for  the  kitten.  Sometimes  they  were  so  low 
under  the  eaves  that  I  thought  they  must  have  perfo- 
rated the  plate  beam  for  another  apartment,  and  I  noticed 
some  which  were  triangular,  to  fit  that  part  more  exactly. 
The  ends  of  the  houses  had  thus  as  many  muzzles  as  a 
revolver,  and,  if  the  inhabitants  have  the  same  habit  of 
staring  out  the  windows  that  some  of  our  neighbors  have, 
a  traveller  must  stand  a  small  chance  with  them. 

Generally,  the  old-fashioned  and  unpainted  houses  on 
the  Cape  looked  more  comfortable,  as  well  as  pictu- 
resque, than  the  modern  and  more  pretending  ones,  which 
were  less  in  harmony  with  the  scenery,  and  less  firmly 
planted. 

These  houses  were  on  the  shores  of  a  chain  of  ponds, 
seven  in  number,  the  source  of  a  small  stream  called 
Herring  River,  which  empties  into  the  Bay.  There  are 
many  Herring  Rivers  on  the  Cape ;  they  will,  perhaps, 
be  more  numerous  than  herrmgs  soon.  We  knocked  at 
the  door  of  the  first  house,  but  its  inhabitants  were  all 
gone  away.  In  the  mean  while,  we  saw  the  occupants 
of  the  next  one  looking  out  the  window  at  us,  and 
before  we  reached  it  an  old  woman  came  out  and  fas- 
tened the  door  of  her  bulkhead,  and  went  in  again. 
Nevertheless,  we  did  not  hesitate  to  knock  at  her  dooi-, 
when  a  grizzly -looking  man  appeared,  whom  we  took  to 
be  sixty  or  seventy  years  old.  He  asked  us,  at  first, 
suspiciously,  where  we  were  from,  and  what  our  business 
was ;  to  which  we  returned  plain  answers. 

*"  How  far  is  Concord  from  Boston  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  Twenty  miles  by  railroad." 
4 


74  CAPE  COD. 

"  Twenty  miles  by  railroad,"  he  repeated. 

"  Did  n't  you  ever  hear  of  Concord  of  Revolutionary 
fame?" 

"  Did  n't  I  ever  hear  of  Concord  ?  Why,  I  heard  the 
gujis  fire  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  [They  hear  the 
sound  of  heavy  cannon  across  the  Bay.]  I  am  almost 
ninety;  I  am  eighty-eight  year  old.  I  was  fourteen 
year  old  at  the  time  of  Concord  Fight,  —  and  where  were 
you  then  ?  " 

We  were  obliged  to  confess  that  we  were  not  in  the 
fight. 

"  Well,  walk  in,  we  '11  leave  it  to  the  women,"  said  he. 

So  we  walked  in,  surprised,  and  sat  down,  an  old 
wom'an  taking  our  hats  and  bundles,  and  the  old  man 
continued,  drawing  up  to  the  large,  old-fashioned  fire- 
place, — 

"  I  am  a  poor  good-for-nothing  crittur,  as  Isaiah  says ; 
I  am  all  broken  down  this  year.  I  am  under  petticoat 
government  here." 

The  family  consisted  of  the  old  man,  his  wife,  and  his 
daughter,  who  appeared  nearly  as  old  as  her  mother, 
a  fool,  her  son  (a  brutish-looking,  middle-aged  man,  with 
a  prominent  lower  face,  who  was  standing  by  the  hearth 
when  we  entered,  but  immediately  went  out),  and  a  little 
boy  of  ten. 

While  my  companion  talked  with  the  women,  I  talked 
with  the  old  man.  They  said  that  he  was  old  and  fool-, 
ish,  but  he  was  evidently  too  knowing  for  them. 

"These  women,"  said  he  to  me,  "are  both  of  them 
poor  good-for-nothing  critturs.  This  one  is  my  wife.  I 
married  her  sixty-four  years  ago.  She  is  eighty-four 
years  old,  and  as  deaf  as  an  adder,  and  the  other  is  not 
much  better." 


THF  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  75 

He  thought  well  of  the  Bible,  or  at  least  he  spoke 
well,  and  did  not  think  ill,  of  it,  for  that  would  not  have 
been  prudent  for  a  man  of  his  age.  He  said  that  he 
had  read  it  attentively  for  many  years,  and  he  had  much 
of  it  at  his  tongue's  end.  He  seemed  deeply  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  his  own  nothingness,  and  would  repeat- 
edly exclaim,  — 

"  I  am  a  nothing.  What  I  gather  from  my  Bible  is 
just  this:  that  man  is  a  poor  good-for-nothing  crittur, 
and  everything  is  just  as  God  sees  fit  and  disposes." 

"  May  I  ask  your  name  ?  "  I  said. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  I  am  not  ashamed  to  tell  my 

name.     My  name  is .     My  great-grandfather  came 

over  from  England  and  settled  here." 

He  was  an  old  Wellfleet  oysterman,  who  had  acquired 
a  competency  in  that  business,  and  had  sons  still  engaged 
in  it. 

Nearly  all  the  oyster  shops  and  stands  in  Massachu- 
setts, I  am  told,  are  supplied  and  kept  by  natives  of 
Wellfleet,  and  a  part  of  this  town  is  still  called  Billings- 
gate from  the  oysters  having  been  formerly  planted  there ; 
but  the  native  oysters  are  said  to  have  died  in  1770. 
Various  causes  are  assigned  for  this,  such  as  a  ground 
frost,  the  carcasses  of  black-fish,  kept  to  rot  in  the  har- 
bor, and  the  like,  but  the  most  common  account  of  the 
matter  is,  —  and  \  find  that  a  similar  superstition  with 
regard  to  the  disappearance  of  fishes  exists  almost  every- 
where, —  that  when  Wellfleet  began  to  quarrel  with  the 
neighboring  towns  about  the  right  to  gather  them,  yel- 
low specks  appeared  in  them,  and  Providence  caused 
them  to  disappear.  A  few  years  ago  sixty  thousand 
bushels  were  annually  brought  from  the  South  and 
planted  in  the  harbor  of  Wellfleet  till  they  attained  "  the 


76  CAPE  COD. 

proper  relish  of  Billingsgate  "  ;  but  now  they  are  un- 
ported  commonly  full-grown,  and  laid  down  near  their 
markets,  at  Boston  and  elsewhere,  where  the  water, 
being  a  mixture  of  salt  and  fresh,  suits  them  better. 
The  business  was  said  to  be  still  good  and  improving. 

The  old  man  said  that  the  oysters  were  liable  to  freeze 
in  the  winter,  if  planted  too  high  ;  but  if  it  were  not  "so 
cold  as  to  strain  their  eyes"  they  were  not  injured. 
The  inhabitants  of  New  Brunswick  have  noticed  that 
"  ice  will  not  form  over  an  oyster-bed,  unless  the  cold  is 
very  intense  indeed,  and  when  the  bays  are  frozen  over 
the  oyster-beds  are  easily  discovered  by  the  water  above 
them  remaining  unfrozen,  or  as  the  French  residents 
say,  degele"  Our  host  said  that  they  kept  them  in  cel- 
lars all  winter. 

"  Without  anything  to  eat  or  drink  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Without  anything  to  eat  or  drink,"  he  answered. 

"  Can  the  oysters  move  ?  " 

"  Just  as  much  as  my  shoe." 

But  when  I  caught  him  saying  "that  they  "  bedded 
themselves  down  in  the  sand,  flat  side  up,  round  side 
down,"  I  told  him  that  my  shoe  could  not  do  that,  with- 
out the  aid  of  my  foot  in  it ;  at  which  he  said  that  they 
merely  settled  down  as  they  grew  ;  if  put  down  in  a 
square  they  would  be  found  so  ;  but  the  clam  could 
move  quite  fast.  I  have  since  been  told  by  oystermen 
of  Long  Island,  where  the  oyster  is  still  indigenous  and 
abundant,  that  they  are  found  in  large  masses  attached 
to  the  parent  in  their  midst,  and  are  so  taken  up  with 
their  tongs ;  in  which  case,  they  say,  the  age  of  the 
young  proves  that  there  could  have  been  no  motion  for 
five  or  six  years  at  least.  And  Buckland  in  his  Curiosi- 
ties of  Natural  History  (page  50)   says ;  "  An  oyster 


THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  77 

who  has  once  taken  up  his  position  and  fixed  himself 
when  quite  young,  can  never  make  a  change.  Oysters, 
nevertheless,  that  have  not  fixed  themselves,  but  remain 
loose  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  have  the  power  of  loco- 
motion ;  they  open  their  shells  to  their  fullest  extent, 
and  then  suddenly  contracting  them,  the  expulsion  of 
the  water  forwards  gives  a  motion  backwards.  A  fish- 
erman at  Guernsey  told  me  that  he  had  frequently  seen 
oysters  moving  in  this  way." 

Some  still  entertain  the  question  "  whether  the  oys- 
ter was  indigenous  in  Massachusetts  Bay,"  and  whether 
Wellfleet  harbor  was  a  *  natural  habitat "  of  this  fish ; 
but,  to  say  nothing  of  the  testimony  of  old  oystermen, 
which,  I  think,  is  quite  conclusive,  though  the  na- 
tive oyster  may  now  be  extinct  there,  I  sliw  that  their 
shells,  opened  by  the  Indians,  were  strewn  all  over  the 
Cape.  Indeed,  the  Gape  was  at  first  thickly  settled  by 
Indians  on  account  of  the  abundance  of  these  and  other 
fish.  "We  saw  many  traces  of  their  occupancy  after  this, 
in  Truro,  near  Great  Hollow,  and  at  High-Head,  near 
East  Harbor  River,  —  oysters,  clams,  cockles,  and  other 
shells,  mingled  with  ashes  and  the  bones  of  deer  and 
other  quadrupeds.  I  picked  up  half  a  dozen  arrow-heads, 
and  in  an  hour  or  two  could  have  filled  my  pockets 
with  them.  The  Indians  lived  about  the  edges  of  the 
swamps,  then  probably  in  some  instances  ponds,  for 
shelter  and  water.  Moreover,  Champlain  in  the  edition 
of  his  "  Voyages "  printed  in  1613,  says  that  in  the 
year  1606  he  and  Poitrincourt  explored  a  harbor  (Barn- 
stable Harbor?)  in  the  southerly  part  of  what  is  now  called 
Massachusetts  Bay,  in  latitude  42°,  about  five  leagues 
south,  one  point  west  of  Cap  Blanc  (Cape  Cod),  and 
there  they  found  many  good  oysters,  and  they  named  it 


78  CAPE  COD. 

^^le  Port  aux  Huistres''  (Oyster  Harbor).  lu  one  edi- 
tion of  liis  map  (1632),  the  "i?.  aux  SJscailles"  is  drawn 
emptying  into  the  same  part  of  the  bay,  and  on  the 
map  "I^ovi  Belgti,"  in  Ogilby's  America  (1670),  the 
words  "  Port  aux  Huistres "  are  placed  against  the 
same  place.  Also  William  Wood,  who  left  New  Eng- 
land in  1633,  speaks,  in  his  "  New  England's  Pros- 
pect," published  in  1634,  of  "a  great  oyster-bank^' 
in  Charles  River,  and  of  another  in  the  Mistick,  each 
of  which  obstructed  the  navigation  of  its. river.  "The 
oysters,"  says  he,  "be  great  ones  in  form  of  a  shoe- 
horn ;  some  be  a  foot  long ;  these  breed  on  certain 
banks  that  are  bare  every  spring  tide.  This  fish  without 
the  shell  is  so  big,  that  it  must  admit  of  a  division  before 
you  can  well  get  it  into  your  mouth."  Oysters  are  still 
found  there.  (Also,  see  Thomas  Morton's  New  English 
Canaan,  page  90.) 

Our  host  told  us  that  the  sea-clam,  or  hen,  was  not 
easily  obtained ;  it  was  raked  up,  but  never  on  the  At- 
lantic side,  only  cast  ashore  there  in  small  quantities  in 
storms.  The  fisherman  sometimes  wades  in  water  sev- 
eral feet  deep,  and  thrusts  a  pointed  stick  into  the  sand 
before  him.  When  this  enters  between  the  valves  of 
a  clam,  he  closes  them  on  it,  and  is  drawn  out.  It  has 
been  known  to  catch  and  hold  coot  and  teal  which  were 
preying  on  it.  I  chanced 'to  be  on  the  bank  of  the 
Acushnet  at  New  Bedford  one  day  since  this,  watching 
some  ducks,  when  a  man  informed  me  that,  having  let  out 
bis  young  ducks  to  seek  their  food  amid  the  samphire  {Sa- 
licornid)  and  other  weeds  along  the  river-side  at  low  tide 
that  morning,  at  length  he  noticed  that  one  remained  sta- 
tionary, amid  the  weeds,  something  preventing  it  from 
following  the  others,  and  going  to  it  he  found  its  foot 


THE  WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN.  79 

tightly  shut  in  a  quahog's  shell.  He  took  up  both 
together,  carried  them  to  his  home,  and  his  wife  opening 
the  shell  with  a  knife  released  the  duck  and  cooked  the 
quahog.  The  old  man  said  that  the  great  clams  were 
good  to  eat,  but  that  they  always  took  out  a  certain  part 
which  was  poisonous,  before  they  cooked  them.  "  Peo- 
ple said  it  would  kill  a  cat."  I  did  not  tell  him  that  I 
had  eaten  a  large  one  entire  that  afternoon,  but  began 
to  think  that  I  was  tougher  than  a  cat  He  stated  that 
pedlers  came  round  there,  and  sometimes  tried  to  sell  the 
women  folks  a  skimmer,  but  he  told  them  that  their  wo- 
men had  got  a  better  skimmer  than  they  could  make,  in  the 
shell  of  their  clams  ;  it  was  shaped  just  right  for  this 
purpose.  —  They  call  them  "  skim-alls  "  in  some  places. 
He  also  said  that  the  sun-squawl  was  poisonous  to  handle, 
and  when  the  sailors  came  across  it,  they  did  not  meddle 
with  it,  but  heaved  it  out  of  their  way.  I  told  him  that 
I  had  handled  it  that  afternoon,  and  had  felt  no  ill  effects 
as  yet.  But  he  said  it  made  the  hands  itch,  especially 
if  they  had  previously  been  scratched,  or  if  I  put  it  into 
my  bosom,  I  should  find  out  what  it  was. 

He  informed  us  that  no  ice  ever  formed  on  the  back 
side  of  the  Cape,  or  not  more  than  once  in  a  century, 
and  but  little  snow  lay  there,  it  being  either  absorbed  or 
blown  or  washed  away.  Sometimes  in  winter,  wlien  the 
tide  was  down,  the  beach  was  frozen,  and  afforded  a 
hard  road  up  the  back  side  for  some  thirty  miles,  as 
smooth  as  a  floor.  One  winter  when  he  was  a  boy,  he 
and  his  father  "  took  right  out  into  the  back  side  before 
daylight,  and  walked  to  Provincetown  and  back  to 
dinner." 

When  I  asked  what  they  did  with  all  that  barren-look- 
ing land,  where  I  saw  so  few  cultivated  fields,  —  "  Noth- 
ing," he  said. 


80  CAPE  COD. 

"  Then  why  fence  your  fields  ?  " 

"  To  keep  the  sand  from  blowing  and  covering  up  the 
whole." 

"  The  yellow  sand,"  said  he,  "  has  some  life  in  it,  but 
the  white  little  or  none." 

When,  in  answer  to  his  questions,  I  told  him  that  I  was 
a  surveyor,  he  said  that  they  who  surveyed  his  farm 
were  accustomed,  where  the  ground  was  uneven,  to  loop 
up  each  chain  as  high  as  their  elbows ;  that  was  the 
allowance  they  made,  and  he  wished  to  know  if  I 
could  tell  him  why  they  did 'not  come  out  according  to 
his  deed,  or  twice  alike.  He  seemed  to  have  more 
respect  for  surveyors  of  the  old  school,  which  I  did  not 
wonder  at.  "King  George  the  Third,"  said  he,  "laid 
out  a  road  four  rods  wide  and  straight  the  whole  length 
of  the  Cape,"  but  where  it  was  now  he  could  not  tell. 

This  story  of  the  surveyors  reminded  me  of  a  Long- 
Islander,  who  once,  when  I  had  made  ready  to  jump 
from  the  bow  of  his  boat  to  the  shore,  and  he  thought 
that  I  underrated  the  distance  and  would  fall  short,  — 
though  I  found  afterward  that  he  judged  of  the  elasticity 
of  my  joints  by  his  own,  —  told  me  that  when  he  came 
to  a  brook  which  he  wanted  to  get  over,  he  held  up  one 
leg,  and  then,  if  his  foot  appeared  to  cover  any  part 
of  the*opposite  bank,  he  knew  that  he  could  jump  it. 
"  Why,"  I  told  him,  "  to  say  nothing  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  other  small  watery  streams,  I  could  blot  out  a  star 
with  my  foot,  but  I  would  not  engage  to  jump  that  dis- 
tance," and  asked  how  he  knew  when  he  had  got  his  leg 
at  the  right  elevation.  But  he  regarded  his  legs  as  no 
less  accurate  than  a  pair  of  screw  dividers  or  an  ordi- 
nary quadrant,  and  appeared  to  have  a  painful  recollec- 
tion of  every  degree  and  minute  in  the  arc  which  they 


THE  WELLFLEET  OTSTERMAN.  81 

described ;  and  he  would  have  had  me  believe  that  there 
was  a  kind  of  hitch  in  his  hip-joint  which  answered  the 
purpose.  I  suggested  that  he  should  connect  his  two 
ankles  by  a  string  of  the  proper  length,  which  should  be 
the  chord  of  an  arc,  measuring  his  jumping  ability  on 
horizontal  surfaces,  —  assuming  one  leg  to  be  a  perpen- 
dicular to  the  plane  of  the  horizon,  which,  however,  may 
have  been  too  bold  an  assumption  in  this  case.  Never- 
theless, this  was  a  kind  of  geometry  in  the  legs  which  it 
interested  me  to  hear  of. 

Our  host  took  pleasure  in  telling  us  the  names  of  the 
ponds,  most  of  which  we  could  see  from  his  windows, 
and  making  us  repeat  them  after  him,  to  see  if  we 
had  got  them  right.  They  were  Gull  Pond,  the  largest 
and  a  very  handsome  one,  clear  and  deep,  and  more 
than  a  mile  .in  circumference,  Newcomb's,  Swett's, 
Slough,  Horse-Leech,  Round,  and  Herring  Ponds,  all 
connected  at  high  water,  if  I  do  not  mistake.  The 
coast-surveyors  had  come  to  him  for  their  names,  and  he 
told  them  of  one  which  they  had  not  detected.  He  said 
that  they  were  not  so  high  as  formerly.  There  was  an 
earthquake  about  four  years  before  he  was  bom,  which 
cracked  the  pans  of  the  ponds,  which  were  of  iron,  and 
caused  them  to  settle.  I  did  not  remember  to  have  read 
of  this.  Innumerable  gulls  used  to  resort  to  them;  but 
the  large  gulls  were  now  very  scarce,  for,  as  he  said,  the 
English  robbed  their  nests  far  in  the  north,  where  they 
breed.  He  remembered  well  when  gulls  were  taken  in 
the  gull-house,  and  when  small  birds  were  killed  by 
means  of  a  frying-pan  and  fire  at  night.  His  father 
once  lost  a  valuable  horse  from  this  cause.  A  party 
from  Wellfleet  having  lighted  their  fire  for  this  purpose, 
one  dark  night,  on  Billingsgate  Island,  twenty  horses 

4*  F 


82  CAPE  COD. 

which  were  pastu/ed  there,  and  this  colt  among  them, 
being  frightened  by  it,  and  endeavoring  in  the  dark  to 
cross  the  passage  which  separated  them  from  the  neigh- 
boring beach,  and  which  was  then  fordable  at  low  tide, 
were  all  swept  out  to  sea  and  drowned.  I  observed  that 
many  horses  were  still  turned  out  to  pasture  all  summer 
on  the  islands  and  beaches  in  Wdlfleet,  Eastham,  and 
Orleans,  as  a  kind  of  common.  He  also  described  the 
killing  of  what  he  called  "  wild  hens "  here,  after  they 
had  gone  to  roost  in  the  woods,  when  he  was  a  boy. 
Perhaps  they  were  "Prairie  hens"  (pinnated  grouse). 

He  liked  the  Beach-pea  {Lathyrus  maritimus) ,  cooked 
green,  as  well  as  the  cultivated.  He  had  seen  it  grow- 
ing veiy  abundantly  in  Newfoundland,  where  also  the 
inhabitants  ate  them,  but  he  had  never  been  able  to  ob- 
tain any  ripe  for  seed.  We  read,  under  the  head  of 
Chatham,  that  "  in  1555,  during  a  time  of  great  scarcity, 
the  people  about  Orford,  in  Sussex  (England)  were  pre- 
served from  perishing  by  eating  the  seeds  of  this  plant, 
which  grew  there  in  great  abundance  on  the  sea-coast. 
Cows,  horses,  sheep,  and  goats  eat  it."  But  the  writer 
who  quoted  this  could  not  learn  that  they  had  ever  been 
used  in  Barnstable  County. 

He  had  been  a  voyager,  then?  O,  he  had  been 
about  the  world  in  his  day.  He  once  considered  him- 
self a  pilot  for  all  our  coast ;  but  now  they  had  changed 
the  names  so  he  might  be  bothered. 

He  gave  us  to  taste  what  he  called  the  Summer  Sweet- 
ing, a  pleasant  apple  which  he  raised,  and  frequently 
grafted  from,  but  had  never  seen  growing  elsewhere,  ex- 
cept once,  —  three  trees  on  Newfoundland,  or  at  the  Bay 
of  Chaleur,  I  forget  which,  as  he  was  sailing  by.  He 
was  sure  that  he  could  tell  the  tree  at  a  distance. 


THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  83 

At  length  the  fool,  whom  my  companion  called  the 
wizard,  came  in,  muttering  between  his  teeth,  "Damn 
book-pedlers,  —  all  the  time  talking  about  books.  Bet- 
ter do  something.  Damn  'em.  I  '11  shoot  *em.  Got  a 
doctor  down  here.  Damn  him,  I  *11  get  a  gun  and  shoot 
him  " ;  never  once  holding  up  his  head.  Whereat  the 
old  man  stood  up  and  said  in  a  loud  voice,  as  if  he 
was  accustomed  to  command,  and  this  was  not  the  first 
time  he  had  been  obliged  to  exert  his  authority  there  : 
"  John,  go  sit  down,  mind  your  business,  — we  've  heard 
you  talk  before,  —  precious  little  you  '11  do,  —  your  bark 
is  worse  than  your  bite."  But,  without  minding,  John 
muttered  the  same  gibberish  over  again,  and  then  sat 
down  at  the  table  which  the  old  folks  had  left.  He  ate 
all  there  was  on  it,  and  then  turned  to  the  apples,  which 
his  aged  mother  was'  paring,  that  she  might  give  her 
guests  some  apple-sauce  for  breakfast,  but  she  drew 
them  away  and  sent  him  off. 

When  I  approached  this  house  the  next  summer,  over 
the  desolate  hills  between  it  and  the  shore,  which  are 
worthy  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  Ossian,  I  saw 
the  wizard  in  the  midst  of  a  cornfield  on  the  hillside, 
but,  as  usual,  he  loomed  so  strangely,  that  I  mistook  him 
for  a  scarecrow. 

This  was  the  merriest  old  man  that  we  had  ever  seen, 
and  one  of  the  best  preserved.  His  style  of  conversa- 
tion was  coarse  and  plain  enough  to  have  suited  Rabe- 
lais. He  would  have  made  a  good  Panurge.  Or 
rather  he  was  a  sober  Silenus,  and  we  were  the  boys 
Chromis  and  Mnasilus,  who  Hstened  to  his  story. 

"  Not  by  Haemonian  hills  the  Thracian  bard, 
Nor  awful  Phoebus  was  on  Pindus  heard 
With  deeper  silence  or  with  more  regard." 


84  CAPE   COD. 

There  was  a  strange  mingling  of  past  and  present  in 
his  conversation,  for  he  had  lived  under  King  George,  and 
might  have  remembered  when  Napoleon  and  the  mod- 
ems generally  were  born.  He  said  that  one  day,  when 
the  troubles  between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother  country 
jQrst  broke  out,  as  he,  a  boy  of  fifteen,  was  pitching  hay 
out  of  a  cart,  one  Doane,  an  old  Tory,  who  was  talking 
with  his  father,  a  good  Whig,  said  to  him,  "  Why,  Uncle 
Bill,  you  might  as  well  undertake  to  pitch  that  pond  into 
the  ocean  with  a  pitchfork,  as  for  the  Colonies  to  under- 
take to  gain  their  independence."  He  remembered  well 
General  Washington,  and  how  he  rode  his  horse  along 
the  streets  of  Boston,  and  he  stood  up  to  show  us  how  he 
looked. 

"  He  was  a  r — a — ther  large  and  portly-looking  man, 
a  manly  and*resolute-looking  officer,  with  a  pretty  good 
leg  as  he  sat  on  his  horse."  —  "  There,  I'll  tell  you,  this 
was  the  way  with  Washington."  Then  he  jumped  up 
again,  and  bowed  gracefully  to  right  and  left,  making 
show  as  if  he  were  waving  his  hat.  Said  he,  "  That 
was  Washington." 

He  told  us  many  anecdotes  of  the  Revolution,  and 
was  much  pleased  when  we  told  him  that  we  had  read 
the  same  in  history,  and  that  his  account  agreed  with  the 
written. 

"O,"  he  said,  "I  know,  I  know!  I' was  a  young 
fellow  of  sixteen,  with  my  ears  wide  open ;  and  a  fel- 
low of  that  age,  you  know,  is  pretty  wide  awake,  and 
likes  to  know  everything  that 's  going  on.  O,  I 
know ! " 

He  told  us  the  story  of  the  wreck  of  the  Franklin, 
which  took  place  there  the  previous  spring :  how  a  boy 
came  to  his  house  early  in  the  morning  to  know  whose 


THE  WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN.  85 

boat  that  was  by  the  shore,  for  there  was  a  vessel  in  dis- 
tress, and  he,  being  an  old  man,  first  ate  his  breakfast, 
and  then  walked  over  to  the  top  of  the  hill  by  the  slioro, 
and  sat  down  there,  having  found  a  comfortable  seat,  to 
see  the  ship  wrecked.  She  was  on  the  bar,  only  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  fi'om  him,  and  stiU  nearer  to  the  men  on 
the  -beach,  who  had  got  a  boat  ready,  but  could  render 
no  assistance  on  account  of  the  breakers,  for  there  was 
a  pretty  high  sea  running.  There  were  the  passengers 
all  crowded  together  in  the  forward  part  of  the  ship,  and 
some  were  getting  out  of  the  cabin  windows  and  were 
drawn  on  deck  by  the  others. 

"  I  saw  the  captain  get  out  his  boat,"  said  he ;  "  he 
had  one  little  one  ;  and  then  they  jumped  into  it  one  after 
another,  down  as  straight  as  an  arrow.  I  counted  them. 
There  were  nine.  One  was  a  woman,  and  she  jumped 
as  straight  as  any  of  them.  Then  they  shoved  off.  The 
sea  took  them  back,  one  wave  went  over  them,  and  when 
they  came  up  there  were  six  still  cUnging  to  the  boat ;  I 
counted  them.  The  next  wave  turned  the  boat  bottom 
upward,  and  emptied  them  all  out.  None  of  them  ever 
came  ashore  alive.  There  were  the  rest  of  them  all 
crowded  together  on  the  forecastle,  the  other  parts  of  the 
ship  being  under  water.  They  had  seen  all  that  hap- 
pened to  the  boat.  At  length  a  heavy  sea  separated  the 
forecastle  from  the  rest  of  the  wreck,  and  set  it  inside  of 
the  worst  breaker,  and  the  boat  was  able  to  reach  them, 
and  it  saved  all  that  were  lefl,  but  one  woman." 

He  also  told  us  of  the  steamer  Cambria's  getting 
aground  on  his  shore  a  few  months  before  we  were  there, 
and  of  her  English  passengers  who  roamed  over  his 
grounds,  and  who,  he  said,  thought  the  prospect  from  the 
high  hill  by  the  shore  "  the  most  delightsome-  they  had 


86  CAPE  COD. 

ever  seen,"  and  also  of  the  pranks  which  the  ladies 
played  with  his  scoop-net  in  the  ponds.  He  spoke  of 
these  travellers  with  their  purses  full  of  guineas,  just  as 
our  provincial  fathers  used  to  speak  of  British  bloods  in 
the  time  of  King  George  the  Third. 

Quid  loquar  ?     Why  repeat  what  he  told  us  ? 

"  Aut  Scyllam  Nisi,  quam  fama  secuta  est, 
Candida  succinctam  latrantibus  inguina  monstris, 
Dulichias  vexasse  rates,  et  gurgite  in  alto 
Ah  timidos  nautaa  canibus  laoerasse  marinis  ?  " 

In  the  course  of  the  evening  I  began  to  feel  the  po- 
tency of  the  clam  which  I  had  eaten,  and  I  was  obliged 
to  confess  to  our  host  that  I  was  no  toifgher  than  the  cat 
he  told  of ;  but  he  answered,  that  he  was  a  plain-spoken 
man,  and  he  could  tell  me  that  it  was  all  imagination.  At 
any  rate,  it  proved  an  emetic  in  my  case,  and  I  was  made 
quite  sick  by  it  for  a  short  time,  while  he  laughed  at  my 
expense.  I  was  pleased  to  read  aftervs^ard,  in  Mourt's 
Relation  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  in  Provincetown 
Harbor,  these  words  :  "  We  found  great  muscles  (the 
old  editor  says  that  they  were  undoubtedly  sea-clams) 
and  very  fat  and  full  of  sea-pearl ;  but  we  could  not  eat 
them,  for  tliey  made  us  all  sick  that  did  eat,  as  well 

sailors  as  passengers, but   they  were   soon  well 

agaui."  It  brought  me  nearer  to  the  Pilgrims  to  be 
thus  reminded  by  a  similar  experience  that  I  was  so 
like  them.  Moreover,  it  was  a  valuable  confirmation 
of  their  story,  and  I  am  prepared  now  to  beheve  every 
word  of  Mourt's  Relation.  I  was  also  pleased  to  find 
that  man  and  the  clam  lay  still  at  the  same  angle  to  one 
another.  But  I  did  not  notice  sea-pearl.  Like  Cleo- 
patra, I  must  have  swallowed  it.  I  have  since  dug 
these  clams  on  a  flat  in  the  Bay  and  observed   them. 


THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  87 

They  could  squirt  full  ten  feet  before  the  wind,  as 
appeared  by  the  marks  of  the  drops  on  the  sand. 

"  Now  I  am  going  to  ask  you  a  question,"  said  the  old 
man,  "  and  I  don't  know  as  you  can  tell  me ;  but  you  are 
a  learned  man,  and  I  never  had  any  learning,  only  what 
I  got  by  riatur."  —  It  was  in  vain  that  we  reminded  him 
that  he  could  quote  Josephus  to  our  confusion.  —  "I *ve 
thought,  if  I  ever  met  a  learned  man  I  should  like  to 
ask  him  tliis  question.  Cfin  you  tell  me  how  Axy  is 
spelt,  and  what  it  means  ?  Axy,''  says  he  ;  *'  there  's 
a  girl  over  here  is  named  Axy.  Now  what  is  it  ?  What 
does  it  mean  ?  Is  it  Scripture  ?  I  've  read  my  Bible 
twenty-five  years  over  and  over,  and  I  never  came 
across  it." 

"  Did  you  read  it  twenty -five  years  for  this  object  ?  " 
^  asked. 

«  Well,  how  is  it  spelt  ?    Wife,  how  is  it  spelt  ?  " 

She  said :  "  It  is  in  the  Bible ;  I  've  seen  it" 

"  Well,  how  do  you  spell  it  ?  '* 

"  I  don't  know.     A  c  h,  ach,  s  e  h,  seh,  —  Achseh." 

"  Does  that  spell  Axy  ?  Well,  do  you  know  what  it 
means  ?  "  asked  he,  turning  to  me. 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  I  never  heard  the  sound  before." 

"  There  was  a  schoolmaster  down  here  once,  and  they 
asked  him  what  it  meant,  and  he  said  it  had  no  more 
meaning  tha'n  a  bean-pole." 

I  told  nim  that  I  held  the  same  opinion  with  the 
schoolmaster.  I  had  been  a  schoolmaster  myself,  and 
had  had  strange  names  to  deal  with.  I  also  heard 
of  such  names  as  Zoheth,  Beriah,  Amaziah,  Bethuel, 
and  Shearjashub,  hereabouts. 

At  length  the  little  boy,  who  had  a  seat  quite  in  the 
chimney-corner,  took  off  his  stockings  and  shoes,  warmed 


88  CAPE  COD. 

his  feet,  and  having  had  his  sore  leg  freshly  salved,  went 
off  to  bed ;  then  the  fool  made  bare  his  knotty-looking 
feet  and  legs,  and  followed  him ;  and  finally  the  old  man 
exposed  his  calves  also  to  our  gaze.  We  had  never  had 
the  good  fortune  to  see  an  old  man's  legs  before,  and 
were  surprised  to  find  them  fair  and  plump  as  an  in- 
fant's, and  we  thought  that  he  took  a  pride  in  exhib- 
iting them.  He  then  proceeded  to  make  preparations 
for  retiring,  discoursing  meanwhile  with  Panurgic  plain- 
ness of  speech  on  the  ills  to  which  old  humanity  is 
subject.  We  were  a  rare  haul  for  him.  He  could  com- 
monly get  none  but  ministers  to  talk  to,  though  some- 
times ten  of  them  at  once,  and  he  was  glad  to  meet  some 
of  the  laity  at  leisure.  The  evening  was  not  long  enough 
for  him.  As  I  had  been  sick,  the  old  lady  asked  if 
I  would  not  go  to  bed,  —  it  was  getting  late  for  old  peo-/ 
pie ;  but  the  old  man,  who  had  not  yet  done  his  stories, 
said,  "  You  ain't  particular,  are  you  ?  " 

"  O  no,"  said  I,  "  I  am  in  no  hurry.  I  believe  I  have 
weathered  the  Clam  cape." 

"They  are  good,"  said  he;  "I  wish  I  had  some  of 
them  now." 

"They  never  hurt  me,"  said  the  old  lady. 
"But  then  you  took  out  the  part  that  killed  a  cat," 
said  I. 

At  last  we  cut  him  short  in  the  midst  of  his  stories, 
which  he  promised  to  resume  in  the  morning.  Yet, 
after  all,  one  of  the  old  ladies  who  came  into  our  room 
in  the  night  to  fasten  the  fire-board,  which  rattled,  as  she 
went  out  took  the  precaution  to  fasten  us  in.  Old 
women  are  by  nature  more  suspicious  than  old  men. 
However,  the  winds  howled  around  the  house,  and 
made  the  fire-boards  as  well  as  the   casements   rattle 


THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  89 

well  that  night.  It  was  probably  a  windj  night  for  any 
locality,  but  we  could  not  distinguish  the  roar  which  was 
proper  to  the  ocean  from  that  which  was  due  to  the 
wind  alone. 

The  sounds  which  the  ocean  makes  must  be  very  sig- 
nificant and  interesting  to  those  who  live  near  it.  When 
I  was  leaving  the  shore  at  this  place  the  next  summer, 
and  had  got  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  ascending  a  hill, 
I  was  startled  by  a  sudden,  loud  sound  from  the  sea,  as 
if  a  large  steamer  were  letting  off  steam  by  the  shore, 
So  that  I  caught  my  breath  and  felt  my  blood  run  cold 
for  an  instant,  and  I  turned  about,  expecting  to  see  one 
of  the  Atlantic  steamers  thus  far  out  of  her  course,  but 
there  was  nothing  unusual  to  be  seen.  There  was  a  low 
bank  at  the  entrance  of  the  Hollow,  between  me  and  the 
ocean,  and  suspecting  that  I  might  have  risen  into 
another  stratum  of  air  in  ascending  the  hill,  —  which  had 
wafted  to  me  only  the  ordinary  roar  of  the  sea,  —  I  im- 
mediately descended  again,  to  see  if  I  lost  hearing  of  it ; 
but,  without  regard  to  my  ascending  or  descending,  it 
died  away  in  a  minute  or  two,  and  yet  there  was  scarcely 
any  wind  all  the  while.  The  old  man  s%id  that  this  was 
what  they  called  the  "  rut,"  a  peculiar  roar  of  the  sea 
before  the  wind  changes,  which,  however,  he  could  not 
account  for.  He  thought  that  he  could  tell  all  about  the 
weather  from  the  sounds  which  the  sea  made. 

Old  Josselyn,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1 638,  has 
it  among  his  weather-signs,  that  "  the  resounding  of  the 
sea  from  the  shore,  and  murmuring  of  the  winds  in  the 
woods,  without  apparent  wind,  sheweth  wind  to  follow." 

Being  on  another  part  of  the  coast  one  night  since 
this,  I  heard  the  roar  of  the  surf  a  mile  distant,  and  the 
inhabitants  said  it  was  a  sign  that  the  wind  would  work 


90  CAPE  COD. 

round  east,  and  we  should  Lave  rainy  weather.  The 
ocean  was  heaped  up  somewhere  at  the  eastward,  and 
this  roar  was  occasioned  by  its  effort  to  preserve  its 
equilibrium,  the  wave  reaching  the  shore  before  the 
wind.  Also  the  captain  of  a  packet  between  this  country 
and  England  told  me  that  he  sometimes  met  with  a  wave 
on  the  Atlantic  coming  against  the  wind,  perhaps  in  a 
calm  sea,  which  indicated  that  at  a  distance  the  wind 
was  blowing  from  an  opposite  quarter,  but  the  undula-  . 
tion  had  travelled  faster  than  it.  Sailors  tell  of  "  tide- 
rips  "  and  "  ground-swells,"  which  they  suppose  to  have 
been  occasioned  by  hurricanes  and  earthquakes,  and  to 
have  travelled  many  hundred,  and  sometimes  even  two 
or  three  thousand  miles. 

Before  sunrise  the  next  morning  they  let  us  out 
again,  and  I  ran  over  to  the  beach  to  see  the  sun  come 
out  of  the  ocean.  The  old  woman  of  eighty-four  win- 
ters was  already  out  in  the  cold  morning  wind,  bare- 
headed, tripping  about  like  a  young  girl,  and  driving  up 
the  cow  to  milk.  She  got  the  breakfast  with  despatch, 
and  without  noise  or  bustle  ;  and  meanwhile  the  old  man 
resumed  his  stones,  standing  before  us,  who  were  sitting, 
with  his  back  to  the  chimney,  and  ejecting  his  tobacco- 
juice  right  and  left  into  the  fire  behind  him,  without 
regard  to  the  various  dishes  which  were  there  preparing. 
At  breakfast  we  had  eels,  buttermilk  cake,  cold  bread, 
green  beans,  doughnuts,  and  tea.  The  old  man  talked  a 
steady  stream ;  and  when  his  wife  told  him  he  had  bet- 
ter eat  his  breakfast,  he  said :  "  Don't  hurry  n^e ;  I  have 
lived  too  long  to  be  hurried."  I  ate  of  the  apple-sauce 
and  the  doughnuts,  which  I  thought  had  sustained  the 
least  detriment  from  the  old  man's  shots,  but  my  com- 
panion refused  the  apple-sauce,  and  ate  of  the  hot  cake 


THE  WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN.  91 

and  green  beans,  which  had  appeared  to  him  to  occupy 
the  safest  part  of  the  hearth.  But  on  comparing  notes 
afterward,  I  told  him  that  the  buttermilk  cake  was  par- 
ticularly exposed,  and  I  saw  how  it  suffered  repeatedly, 
and  therefore  I  avoided  it ;  but  he  declared  that,  how- 
ever that  might  be,  he  witnessed  that  the  apple-sauce 
was  seriously  injured,  and  had  therefore  declined  that. 
After  breakfast  we  looked  at  his  clock,  which  was  out 
of  order,  and  oiled  it  with  some  "  hen's  grease,"  for  want 
of  sweet  oil,  for  he  scarcely  could  believe  that  we  were 
not  tinkers  or  pedlers  ;  meanwhile  he  told  a  story  about 
visions,  which  had  reference  to  a  crack  in  the  clock-case 
made  by  frost  one  night.  He  was  curious  to  know  to 
what  religious  sect  we  belonged.  He  said  that  he  had 
been  to  hear  thirteen  kinds  of  preaching  in  one  month, 
when  he  was  young,  but  he  did  not  join  any  of  them,  — 
he  stuck  to  his  Bible.  There  was  nothing  like  any  of 
them  in  his  Bible.  While  I  was  shaving  in  the  next 
room,  I  heard  him  ask  my  companion  to  what  sect  he 
belonged,  to  which  he  answered : 

"  O,  I  belong  to  the  Universal  Brotherhood." 
«  What 's  that  ?  "  he  asked,  «  Sons  o'  Temperance  ?  " 
Finally,  filling  our  pockets  with  doughnuts,  which  he 
was  pleased  to  find  that  we  called  by  the  same  name 
that  he  did,  and  paying  for  our  entertainment,  we  took 
our  departure ;  but  he  followed  us  out  of  doors,  and 
made  us  tell  him  the  names  of  the  vegetables  which  he 
had  raised  from  seeds  that  came  out  of  the  Franklin. 
They  were  cabbage,  broccoli,  and  parsley.  As  I  had 
asked  him  the  names  of  so  many  thing*,  he  tried  me  in 
turn  with  all  the  plants  which  grew  in  his  garden,  both 
wild  and  cultivated.  It  was  about  half  an  acre,  which 
he  cultivated  wholly  himself.     Besides  the  common  gar- 


92  CAPE  COD. 

den  vegetables,  there  were  Yellow-Dock,  Lemon  Balm, 
Hyssop,  Gill-go-over-the-ground,  Mouse-ear,  Chick-weed, 
Roman  Wormwood,  Elecampane,  and  other  plants.  As 
we  stood  there,  I  saw  a  fish-hawk  stoop  to  pick  a  fish  out 
of  his  pond. 

«  There,"  said  I,  "  he  has  got  a  fish." 

"  Well,"  said  the  old  man,  who  was  looking  all  the 
while,  but  could  see  nothing,  "  he  did  n't  dive,  he  just 
wet  his  claws." 

And,  sure  enough,  he  did  not  this  time,  though  it  is 
said  that  they  often  do,  but  he  merely  stooped  low  enough 
to  pick  him  out  with  his  talons  ;  but  as  he  bore  his  shin- 
ing prey  over  the  bushes,  it  fell  to  the  ground,  and  we 
did  not  see  that  he  recovered  it.  That  is  not  their  prac- 
tice. 

Thus,  having  had  another  crack  with  the  old  man,  he 
standing  bareheaded  under  the  eaves,  he  directed  us 
"athwart  the  fields,"  and  we  took  to  the  beach  again  for 
another  day,  it  being  now  late  in  the  morning. 

It  was  but  a  day  or  two  after  this  that  the  safe  of  the 
Provincetown  Bank  was  broken  open  and  robbed  by  two 
men  from  the  interior,  and  we  learned  that  our  hospi- 
table entertainers  did  at  least  transiently  harbor  the  sus- 
picion that  we  were  the  men. 


VI. 
THE    BEACH    AGAIN, 


Our  way  to  the  high  sand-bank,  which  I  have  de- 
scribed as  extending  all  along  the  coast,  led,  as  usual, 
through  patches  of  Bayberrj  bushes,  which  straggled 
into  the  sand.  This,  next  to  the  Shrub-oak,  was  perhaps 
the  most  common  shrub  thereabouts.  I  was  much 
attracted  by  its  odoriferous  leaves  and  small  gray  berries 
which  are  clustered  about  the  short  twigs,  just  below  the 
last  year's  growth.  I  know  of  but  two  bushes  in  Concord, 
and  they,  being  staminate  plants,  do  not  bear  fruit.  The 
berries  gave  it  a  venerable  appearance,  and  tb*?y  smelled 
quite  spicy,  hke  small  confectionery.  Robert  Beverley, 
in  his  "  History  of  Virginia,"  pubhshed  in  1705,  states  that 
"  at  the  mouth  of  their  rivers,  and  all  along  upon  the 
sea  and  bay,  and  near  many  of  their  creeks  and  swamps, 
grows  the  myrtle,  bearing  a  berry,  of  which  they  make 
a  hard  brittle  wax,  of  a  curious  green  color,  which  by 
refining  becomes  almost  transparent.  Of  this  they  make 
candles,  which  are  never  grea^sy  to  the  touch  nor  melt 
with  lyitig  in  the  hottest  weather ;  neither  does  the  snuff 
of  these  ever  offend  the  smell,  like  that  of  a  tallow  can- 
dle ;  but,  instead  of  being  disagreeable,  if  an  accident 
puts  a  candle  out,  it  yields  a  pleasant  fragrancy  to  all 
that  are  in  the  room ;  insomuch  that  nice  people  often 


94  CAPE  COD. 

put  them  out  on  purpose  to  have  the  incense  of  the  ex- 
piring snuff.  The  melting  of  these  berries  is  said  to 
have  been  first  found  out  by  a  surgeon  in  New  England, 
who  performed  wonderful  things  with  a  salve  made  of 
them."  From  the  abundance  of  berries  still  hanging  on 
the  bushes,  we  judged  that  the  inhabitants  did  not  gener- 
ally collect  them  for  tallow,  though  we  had  seen  a  piece 
in  the  house  we  had  just  left.  I  have  since  made  some 
tallow  myself.  Holding  a  basket  beneath  the  bare  twigs 
in  April,.  I  rubbed  them  together  between  my  hands  and 
thus  gathered  about  a  quart  in  twenty  minutes,  to  which 
were  added  enough  to  make  three  pints,  and  I  might 
have  gathered  them  much  faster  with  a  suitable  rake  and 
a  large  shallow  basket.  They  have  little  prominences 
like  those  of  an  orange  all  creased  in  tallow,  which  also 
fills  the  interstices  down  to  the  stone.  The  oily  part 
rose  to  the  top,  making  it  look  like  a  savory  black  broth, 
which  smelled  much  like  balm  or  other  herb  tea.  You 
let  it  cool,  then  skim  off  the  tallow  from  the  surface, 
melt  this  again  and  strain  it.  I  got  about  a  quarter  of 
a  pound  weight  from  my  three  pints,  and  more  yet  re- 
mained within  the  berries.  A  small  portion  cooled  ia 
the  form  of  small  flattish  hemispheres,  like  crystalliza- 
tions, the  size  of  a  kernel  of  corn  (nuggets  I  called  them 
as  I  picked  them  out  from  amid  the  berries).  Loudon 
says,  that  "  cultivated  trees  are  said  to  yield  more  wax 
than  those  that  are  found  wild."  (See  Duplessy,  Vege- 
taux  Resineux,  Vol.  II.  p.  60.)  1/  you  get  any  pitch 
on  your  hands  in  the  pine-woods  you  have  only  to  rub 
some  of  these  berries  between  your  hands  to  start  it  off. 
But  tire  ocean  was  the  grand  fact  there,  which  made 
us  forget  both  bayberries  and  men. 

To-day  the  air  was  beautifully  clear,  and  the  sea  no 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  95- 

longer  dark  and  stormy,  though  the  waves  still  broke 
with  foam  along  the  beach,  but  sparkling  and  full  of  life. 
Already  that  morning  I  had  seen  the  day  break  over 
the  sea  as  if  it  came  out  of  its  bosom :  — 

"  The  saffron-robed  Dawn  rose  in  haste  from  the  streams 
Of  Ocean,  that  she  might  bring  light  to  immortals  and  to  mortals." 

The  sun  rose  visibly  at  such  a  distance  over  the  sea, 
that  the  cloud-bank  in  the  horizon,  which  at  first  con- 
cealed him,  was  not  perceptible  until  he  had  risen  high 
behind  it,  and  plainly  broke  and  dispersed  it,  like  an 
arrow.  But  as  yet  I  looked  at  him  as  rising  over  land, 
and  could  not,  without  an  effort,  realize  that  he  was  ris- 
ing over  the  sea.  Already  I  saw  some  vessels  on  the 
horizon,  which  had  rounded  the  Cape  in  the  night,  and 
were  now  well  on  their  watery  way  to  other  lands. 

We  struck  the  beach  again  in  the  south  part  of  Truro. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  day,  while  it  was  flood  tide,  and 
the  beach  was  narrow  and  soft,  we  walked  on  the  bank, 
which  was  very  high  here,  but  not  so  level  as  the  day 
before,  being  more  interrupted  by  slight  hollows.  The 
author  of  the  Description  of  the  Eastern  Coast  says  of 
this  part,  that  "  the  bank  is  very  high  and  steep.  From 
the  edge  of  it  west,  there  is  a  strip  of  sand  a  hundred 
yards  in  breadth.  Then  succeeds  low  brushwood,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  and  almost  impassable.  After 
which  comes  a  thick  perplexing  forest,  in  which  not  a 
house  is  to  be  discovered.  Seamen,  therefore,  though 
the  distance  between  the.se  two  hollows  (Newcomb's  and 
Brush  Hollows)  is  great,  must  not  attempt  to  enter  the 
wood,  as  in  a  snow-storm  they  must  undoubtedly  perish." 
This  is  still  a  true  description  of  the  country,  except  that 
there  is  not  much  high  wood  left. 


96  CAPE  COD. 

There  were  many  vessels,  like  gulls,  skimming  over 
the  surface  of  the  sea,  now  half  concealed  in  its  troughs, 
their  dolphin-strikers  ploughing  the  water,  now  tossed  on 
the  top  of  the  billows.  One,  a  barque  standing  down  par- 
allel with  the  coast,  suddenly  furled  her  sails,  came  to 
anchor,  and  swung  round  in  the  wind,  near  us,  only  half 
a  mile  from  the  shore.  At  first  we  thought  that  her 
captain  wished  to  communicate  with  us,  and  perhaps  we 
did  not  regard  the  signal  of  distress,  which  a  mariner 
would  have  understood,  and  he  cursed  us  for  cold-hearted 
wreckers  who  turned  our  backs  on  him.  For  hours  we 
could  still  see  her  anchored  there  behind  us,  and  we 
wondered  how  she  could  afford  to  loiter  so  long  in  her 
course.  Or  was  she  a  smuggler  who  had  chosen  that 
wild  beach  to  land  her  cargo  on  ?  Or  did  they  wish  to 
catch  fish,  or  paint  their  vessel  ?  Erelong  other  barks, 
and  brigs,  and  schooners,  which  had  in  the  mean  while 
doubled  the  Cape,  sailed  Jby  her  in  the  smacking  breeze, 
and  our  consciences  were  relieved.  Some  of  these  ves- 
sels lagged  behind,  while  others  steadily  went  ahead. 
We  narrowly  watched  their  rig  and  the  cut  of  their  jibs, 
and  how  they  walked  the  water,  for  there  was  all  the 
difference  between  them  that  there  is  between  living 
creatures.  But  we  wondered  that  they  should  be  re- 
membering Boston  and  New  York  and  Liverpool,  steer- 
ing for  them,  out  there  ;  as  if  the  sailor  might  foi'get  his 
peddling  business  on  such  a  grand  highway.  They  had 
perchance  brought  oranges  from  the  Western  Isles  ;  and 
were  they  carrying  back  the  peel  ?  We  might  as  well 
transport  our  old  traps  across  the  ocean  of  eternity.  Is 
that  but  another  "  trading  flood,"  with  its  blessed  isles  ? 
Is  Heaven  such  a  harbor  as  the  Liverpool  docks  ? 

Still  held  on  without  a  break,  the  inland  barrens  and 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  97 

shrubbery,  the  desert  and  the  high  sand-bank  with  its 
even  slope,  the  broad  white  beach,  the  breakers,  the 
green  water  on  the  bar,  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  and  we 
traversed  with  delight  new  reaches  of  the  shore  ;  we 
took  another  lesson  in  sea-horses'  manes  and  sea-cows* 
tails,  in  sea-jellies  and  sea-clams,  with  our  new-gained 
experience.  The  sea  ran  hardly  less  than  the  day  be- 
fore. It  seemed  with  every  wave  to  be  subsiding, 
because  such  was  our  expectation,  and  yet  when  hours 
had  elapsed  we  could  see  no  difference.  But  there  it 
was,  balancing  itself,  the  restless  ocean  by  our  side,  lurch- 
ing in  its  gait.  Each  wave  left  the  sand  all  braided  or 
woven,  as  it  were,  with  a  coarse  woof  and  warp,  and  a  dis- 
tinct raised  edge  to  its  rapid  work.  "VVe  made  no  haste, 
since  we  wished  to  see  the  ocean  at  our  leisure,  and  indeed 
that  soft  sand  was  no  place  in  which  to  be  in  a  hurry,  for 
one  mile  there  was  as  good  as  two  elsewhere.  Besides, 
we  were  obliged  frequently  to  empty  our  shoes  of  the  sand 
which  one  took  in  in  climbing  or  descending  the  bank. 

As  we  were  walking  close  to  the  water's  edge  this 
morning,  we  turned  round,  by  chance,  and  saw  a  large 
black  object  wliich  the  waves  had  just  cast  up  on  the 
beach  behind  us,  yet  too  far  off  for  us  to  distinguish 
what  it  was ;  and  when  we  were  about  to  return  to  it, 
two  men  came  running  from  the  bank,  where  no  human 
beings  had  appeared  before,  as  if  they  had  come  out  of 
the  sand,  in  order  to  save  it  before  another  wave  took 
it.  As  we  approached,  it  took  successively  the  form 
of  a  huge  fish,  a  drowned  man,  a  sail  or  a  net,  and 
finally  of  a  mass  of  tow-cloth,  part  of  the  cargo  of  the 
Franklin,  which  the  men  loaded  into  a  cart. 

Objects  on  the  beach,  whether  men  or  inanimate 
things,  look  not  only  exceedingly  grotesque,  but  much 

5  Q 


98  CAPE  COD. 

larger  and  more  wonderful  than  they  actually  are. 
Lately,  when  approaching  the  sea-shore  several  degrees 
south  of  this,  I  saw  before  me,  seemingly  half  a  mile 
distant,  what  appeared  like  bold  and  rugged  cliffs  on  the 
beach,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  whitened  by  the  sun  and 
waves ;  but  after  a  few  steps  it  proved  to  be  low  heaps  of 
rags,  —  part  of  the  cargo  of  a  wrecked  vessel,  —  scarcely 
more  than  a  foot  in  height.  Once  also  it  was  my  busi- 
ness to  go  in  search  of  the  relics  of  a  human  body,  man- 
gled by  sharks,  which  had  just  been  cast  up,  a  week 
after  a  wreck,  having  got  the  direction  from  a  light- 
house :  I  should  find  it  a  mile  or  two  distant  over  the 
sand,  a  dozen  rods  from  the  water,  covered  with  a  cloth, 
by  a  stick  stuck  up.  I  expected  that  I  must  look  very 
narroAvly  to  find  so  small  an  object,  but  the  sandy  beach, 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  stretching  farther  than  the  eye 
could  reach,  was  so  perfectly  smooth  and  bare,  and  the 
mirage  toward  the  sea  so  magnifying,  that  when  I  was 
half  a  mile  distant  the  insignificant  sliver  which  marked 
the  spot  looked  like  a  bleached  spar,  and  the  relics  were 
as  conspicuous  as  if  they  lay  in  state  on  that  sandy  plain, 
or  a  generation  had  labored  to  pile  up  their  cairn  there. 
Close  at  hand  they  were  simply  some  bones  with  a  little 
flesh  adhering  to  them,  in  fact,  only  a  slight  inequality 
in  the  sweep  of  the  shore.  There  was  nothing  at  all 
remarkable  about  them,  and  they  were  singularly  inof- 
fensive both  to  the  senses  and  the  imagination.  But  as 
I  stood  there  they  grew  more  and  more  imposing.  They 
were  alone  with  the  beach  and  the  sea,  whose  hollow 
roar  seemed  addressed  to  them,  and  I  was  impressed  as 
if  there  was  an  understanding  between  them  and  the 
ocean  which  necessarily  left  me  out,  with  my  snivelling 
gymp^thjies.     That  dead  body  had  taken  possession  of 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  99 

the  shore,  and  reigned  over  it  as  no  living  one  could,  in 
the  name  of  a  certain  majesty  which  belonged  to  it. 

We  afterward  saw  many  small  pieces  of  tow-cloth 
washed  up,  and  I  learn  that  it  continued  to  be  found  in 
good  condition,  even  as  late  as  November  in  that  year, 
half  a  dozen  bolts  at  a  time. 

We  eagerly  filled  our  pockets  with  the  smooth  round 
pebbles  which  in  some  places,  even  here,  were  thinly 
sprinkled  over  the  sand,  together  with  flat  circular 
shells  {ScutellcE  ?)  ;  but,  as  we  had  read,  when  they  were 
dry  they  had  lost  their  beauty,  and.  at  each  sitting  we 
emptied  our  pockets  again  of  the  least  remarkable,  until 
our  collection  was  well  culled.  Every  material  was 
rolled  into  the  pebble  form  by  the  waves  ;  not  only  stones 
of  various  kinds,  but  the  hard  coal  which  some  vessel 
had  dropped,  bits  of  glass,  and  in  one  instance  a  mass  of 
peat  three  feet  long,  where  there  was  nothing  like  it  to 
be  seen  for  many  miles.  All  the  great  rivers  of  the 
globe  are  annually,  if  not  constantly,  discharging  great 
quantities  of  lumber,  which  drifts  to  distant  shores.  ^ 
have  also  seen  very  perfect  pebbles  of  brick,  and  Bars 
of  Castile  soap  from  a. wreck  rolled  into  perfect  gy^lin- 
ders,  and  still  spirally  streaked  with  red,  like  a  barber's 
pole.  When  a  cargo  of  rags  is  washed  ashore,  every 
old  pocket  and  bag-like  recess  will  be  filled  to  bursting 
with  sand  by  being  rolled  on  t\^e  beach;  and  on  one 
occasion,  the  pockets  in  the  clothing  of  the  wrecked 
being  thus  puffed  up,  even  after  they  had  been  ripped 
open  by  wreckers,  deluded  me  into  the  hope  of  identi- 
fying them  by  the  contents.  A  pair  of  gloves  looked 
exactly  as  if  filled  by  a  hand.  The  water  in  such  cloth- 
ing is  soon  wrung  out  and  evaporated,  but  the  sand, 
which  works  itself  into  every  seam,  is  not  so  easily  got 


100  CAPE   COD. 

rid  of.  Sponges,  which  are  picked  up  on  the  shore,  as  is 
well  known,  retain  some  of  the  sand  of  the  beach  to  the 
latest  day,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  extract  it. 

I  found  one  stone  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  of  a  dark 
gray  color,  shaped  exactly  like  a  giant  clam  {Mactra 
soUdissima),  and  of- the  same  size;  and,  what  was  more 
remarkable,  one  half  of  the  outside  had  shelled  off  and 
lay  near  it,  of  the  same  form  and  depth  with  one  of  the 
valves  of  this  clam,  while  the  other  half  was  loose,  leav- 
ing a  solid  core  of  a  darker  color  within  it.  I  afterward 
saw  a  stone  resembling  a  razor  clam,  but  it  was  a  solid 
one.  It  appeared  as  if  the  stone,  in  the  process  of  for- 
mation, had  filled  the  mould  which  a  clam-shell  furnished ; 
or  the  same  law  that  shaped  the  clam  had  made  a  clam 
of  stone.  .Dead  clams,  with- shells  full  of  sand,  are 
called  sand  clams.  There  were  many  of  the  large  clam- 
shells filled  with  sand;  and  sometimes  one  valve  was 
separately  filled  exactly  even,  as  if  it  had  been  heaped 
and  then  scraped.  Even  among  the  many  small  stones 
on  the  top  of  the  bank,  I  found  one  arrow-head. 

Beside  the  giant  clani  and  barnacles,  we  found  on  the 
shore  a  small  clam  (Mesodesma  arctata),  which  I  dug 
with  ^y  hands  in  numbers  on  the  bars,  and  which  is 
sometimes  eaten  by  the  inhabitants,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Mya  arenaria,  on  this  side.  Most  of  their  empty  shells 
had  been  perforated  by  some  foe.  —  Also,  the 

Astarte  castanea.        • 

The  Edible  Mussel  {Mytilus  edulis)  on  the  few  rocks, 
and  washed  up  in  curious  bunches  of  forty  or  fifty,  held 
together  by  its  rope-like  hyssus. 

The  Scollop  Shell  {Pecten  concentricm),  used  for 
card-racks  and  pin-cushions. 

Cockles,  or  Cuckoos  {Natica  heros),  and   their   re- 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  101 

markable  nidus,  called  "  sand-circle,"  looking  like  the  top 
of  a  stone  jug  without  the  stopple,  and  broken  on  one 
side,  or  like  a  flaring  dickey  made  of  sand-paper.     Also, 

Cancellaria  Coiithouyi  (?),  and 

Periwinkles  (?)  (Fusus  decemcostatus). 

We  afterward  saw  some  other  kinds  on  the  Bay  side. 
Gould  states  that  this  Cape  "  has  hitherto  proved  a  bar- 
rier to  the  migrations  of  many  species  of  Mollusca."  — 
"Of  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  species  [which 
be  described  in  1840  as  belonging  to  Massachusetts], 
eighty-three  do  not  pass  to  the  South  shore,  and  fifty  are 
not  found  on  the  North  shore  of  the  Cape." 

Among  Crustacea,  there  were  tiie  shells  of  Crabs  and 
Lobsters,  often  bleached  quite  white  high  up  the  beach ; 
Sea  or  Beach  Fleas  (Amphipoda)  ;  and  the  cases  of  the 
Horse-shoe  Crab,  or  Saucepan  Fish  {Limuhis  Pohjphce- 
mus),  of  which  we  saw  many  alive  on  the  Bay  side, 
where  they  feed  pigs  on  them.  Their  tails  were  used 
as  arrow-heads  by  the  Indians. 

Of  Radiata,  there  were  the  Sea  Chestnut  or  Egg  {Echi- 
nus granulatus),  commonly  divested  of  its  spines;  flat 
circular  shells  {Scutella  par?na?)  covered  with  choco- 
late-colored spines,  but  becoming  smooth  and  white,  with 
five  petal-like  figures ;  a  few  Star-fishes  or  Five-fingers 
(Asterias  ruhens)  ;  and  Sun-fishes  or  Sea-jellies  (Aure- 
lice). 

There  was  also  at  least  one  species  of  Sponge. 

The  plants  which  I  noticed  here  and  there  on  the 
pure  sandy  shelf,  between  the  ordinary  high-water  mark 
and  the  foot  of  the  bank,  were  Sea  Rocket  (  Cakile  Ameri- 
cana), Saltwort  (Salsola  kali),  Sea  Sandwort  {Honkenya 
peploides).  Sea  Burdock  (Xanthium  echinatum),  Sea-side 
Spurge  (Euphorbia  polygonifoUa)  ;  also.  Beach  Grass 


102  CAPE  COD. 

(Arundo,  Psamma,  or  Calamagrostis  arenaria),  Sefa-side 
Golden-rod  (SoUdago  sempervirens),  and  the  Beach  Pea 
(^Lathyrus  maritimus). 

Sometimes  we  helped  a  wrecker  turn  over  a  larger 
log  than  usual,  or  we  amused  ourselves  with  rolling 
stones  down  the  bank,  but  we  rarely  could  make  one 
reach  the  water,  the  beach  was  so  soft  and  wide  ;  or  we 
bathed  in  some  shallow  within  a  bar,  where  the  sea 
covered  us  with  sand  at  every  flux,  though  it  was  quite 
cold  and  windy.  The  ocean  there  is  commonly  but  a 
tantalizing  prospect  in  hot  weather,  for  with  all  that 
water  before  you,  there  is,  as  we  were  afterward  told, 
no  bathing  on  the  Atlantic  side,  on  account  of  the  under- 
tow and  the  rumor  of  sharks.  At  the  light-house  both 
in  Easthara  and  Truro,  the  only  houses  quite  on  the 
shore,  they  declared,  the  next  year,  that  they  would  not 
bathe  there  "  for  any  sum,"  for  they  sometimes  saw  the 
sharks  tossed  up  and  quiver  for  a  moment  on  the  sand. 
Others  laughed  at  these  stories,  but  perhaps  they  could 
afford  to  because  they  never  bathed  anywhere.  One  old 
wrecker  told  us  that  he  killed  a  regular  man-eating  shark 
fourteen  feet  long,  and  hauled  him  out  with  his  oxen, 
where  we  had  bathed  ;  and  another,  that  his  father 
caught  a  smaller  on^  of  the  same  kind  that  was  stranded 
there,  by  standing  him  up  on  his  snout  so  that  the  waves 
could  not  take  him.  They  will  tell  you  tough  stories 
of  sharks  all  over  the  Cape,  which  I  do  not  presume  to 
doubt  utterly,  —  how  they  will  sometimes  upset  a  boat, 
or  tear  it  in  pieces,  to  get  at  the  man  in  it.  I  can  easily 
believe  in  the  undertow,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  one 
shark  in  a  dozen  years  is  enough  to  keep  up  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  beach  a  hundred  miles  long.  I  should  add, 
however,  that  in  July  we  walked  on  the  bank  here  a 


THE   BEACH   AGAIN.  103 

quarter  of  a  mile  parallel  with  a  fish  about  six  feet  in 
length,  possibly  a  shark,  which  was  prowling  slowly 
along  within  two  rods  of  the  shore.  It  was  of  a  pale 
brown  color,  singularly  film-like  and  indistinct  in  the 
water,  as  if  all  nature  abetted  this  child  of  ocean,  and 
showed  many  darker  transverse  bars  or  rings  whenever 
it  came  to  the  surface.  It  is  well  known  that  different 
fishes  even  of  the  same  species  are  colored  by  the  water 
they  inhabit.  We  saw  it  go  into  a  little  cove  or  bathing- 
tub,  where  we  had  just  been  bathing,  where  the  water 
was  only  four  or  five  feet  deep  at  that  time,  and  after 
exploring  it  go  slowly  out  again  ;  but  we  continued  to 
bathe  there,  only  observing  first  from  the  bank  if  the 
cove  was  preoccupied.  We  thought  that  the  water  was 
fuller  of  life,  more  aerated  perhaps  than  that  of  the 
Bay,  like  soda-water,  for  we  were  as  particular  as 
young  salmon,  and  the  expectation  of  encountering 
a  shark  did  not  subtract  anything  from  its  Ufe-giving 
qualities. 

Sometimes  we  sat  on  the  wet  beach  and  watched  the 
beach  birds,  sand-pipers,  and  others,  trotting  along  close 
to  each  wave,  and  waiting  for  the  sea  to  cast  up  their 
breakfast.  The  former  (Charadrius  melodm)  ran  with 
great  rapidity  and  then  stood  stock  still  remarkably  erect 
and  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  beach.  Tlie 
wet  sand  was  covered  with  small  skipping  Sea  Fleas, 
which  apparently  make  a  part  of  their  food.  These 
last  are  the  little  scavengers  of  the  beach,  and  are  so 
numerous  that  they  will  devour  large  fishes,  which  have 
been  cast  up,  in  a  very  short  time.  One  little  bird  not 
larger  than  a  sparrow,  —  it  may  have  been  a  Phala- 
rope,  —  would  alight  on  the  turbulent  surface  where  the 
breakers  were  five  or  six  feet  high,  and  float  buoyantly 


104  CArE   COD. 

there  like  a  duck,  cunningly  taking  to  its  wings  and 
lifting  itself  a  few  feet  through  the  air  over  the  foaming 
crest  of  each  breaker,  but  sometimes  outriding  safely  a 
considerable  billow  which  hid  it  some  seconds,  when  its 
instinct  told  it  that  it  would  not  break.  It  was  a  little 
creature  thus  to  sport  with  the  ocean,  but  it  was  as  per- 
fect a  success  in  its  way  as  the  breakers  in  theirs.  There 
was  also  an  almost  uninteiTupted  line  of  coots  rising  and 
falling  with  the  waves,  a  few  rods  from  the  shore,  the 
whole  length  of  the  Cape.  They  made  as  constant  a  part 
of  the  ocean's  border  as  the  pads  or  pickerel-weed  do  of 
that  of  a  pond.  We  read  the  following  as  to  the  Storm 
Petrel  {Thalassidroma  Wilsonii),  which  is  seen  in  the  Bay 
as  well  as  on  the  outside.  "  The  feathers  on  the  breast 
of  the  Storm  Petrel  are,  like  those  of  all  swimming  birds, 
water-proof ;  but  substances  not  susceptible  of  being  wet- 
ted with  water  are,  for  that  very  reason,  the  best  fitted 
for  collecting  oil  from  its  surface.  That  function  is  per- 
formed by  the  feathers  on  the  breast  of  the  Storm  Petrels 
as  they  touch  on  the  surface ;  and  though  that  may  not 
be  the  only  way  in  which  they  procure  their  food,  it  is 
certainly  that  in  which  they  obtain  great  part  of  it.  They 
dash  along  till  they  have  loaded  their  feathers  and  then 
they  pause  upon  the  wave  and  remove  the  oil  with  their 
biUs." 

Thus  we  kept  on  along  the  gently  curving  shore,  see- 
ing two  or  three  miles  ahead  at  once,  —  along  this  ocean 
side-walk,  where  there  was  none  to  turn  out  for,  with  the 
middle  of  the  road  the  highway  of  nations  on  our  right, 
and  the  sand  cliffs  of  the  Cape  on  our  left.  We  saw  this 
forenoon  a  part  of  the  wreck  of  a  vessel,  probably  the 
Franklin,  a  large  piece  fifteen  feet  square,  and  still  freshly 
painted.     With  a  grapple  and  a  line  we  could  have  saved 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  105 

it,  for  the  waves  repeatedly  washed  it  within  cast,  but 
they  as  often  took  it  back.  It  would  have  been  a  lucky 
haul  for  some  poor  wrecker,  for  I  have  been  told  that 
one  man  who  paid  three  or  four  dollars  for  a  part  of  the 
wreck  of  that  vessel,  sold  fifty  or  sixty  dollars'  worth  of 
iron  out  of  it.  Another,  the  same  who  picked  up  the 
Captain's  valise  with  the  memorable  letter  in  it,  showed 
me,  growing  in  his  garden,  many  peaf  and  plum  ft-eea 
which  washed  ashore  from  her,  all  nicely  tied  up  and 
labelled,  and  he  said  that  he  might  have  got  five  hun- 
dred dollars  worth  ;  for  a  Mr.  BelF  was  importing  the 
nucleus  of  a  nursery  to  be  established  near  Boston.  His 
turnip-seed  came  from  the  same  source.  Also  valuable 
Bpars  from  the  same  vessel  and  from  the  Cactus  lay  in 
his  yard.  In  short  the  inhabitants  visit  the  beach  to  see 
what  they  have  caught  as  regularly  as  a  fisherman  his 
weir  or  a  lumberer  hig  boom  ;  the  Cape  is  their  boom. 
I  heard  of  one  who  had  recently  picked  up  twenty  bar- 
rels of  apples  in  good  condition,  probably  a  part  of  a 
deck  load  thrown  over  in  a  storm. 

Though  there  are  wreck-masters  appointed  to  look 
after  valuable  property  which  must  be  advertised,  yet 
undoubtedly  a  great  deal  of  value  is  secretly  carried  off. 
But  are  we  not  all  wreckers  contriving  that  some  treasure 
may  be  washed  up  on  our  beach,  that  we  may  secure 
it,  and  do  we  not  infer  the  habits  of  these  Nauset  and 
Barnegat  wreckers,  from  the  common  modes  of  getting  a 
living  ? 

The  sea,  vast  and  wild  as  it  is,  bears  thus  the  waste 
and  wrecks  of  human  art  to  its  remotest  shore.  There 
is  no  telling  what  it  may  not  vomit  up.  It  lets  nothing 
lie  ;  not  even  the  giant  clams  which  cling  to  its  bottom. 
It  is  still  heaving  up  the  tow-cloth  of  the  Franklin,  and 


106  CAPE  COD. 

perhaps  a  piece  of  some  old  pirate's  ship,  wrecked 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  comes  ashore  to-day. 
Some  years  since,  when  a  vessel  was  wrecked  here 
which  had  nutmegs  in  her  cargo,  they  were  strewn  all 
along  the  beach,  and  for  a  considerable  time  were  not 
spoiled  by  the  salt  water.  Soon  afterward,  a  fisherman 
caught  a  cod  which  was  full  of  them.  .  Why,  then,  might 
not  the  Spice-Isignders  shake  their  nutmeg-trees  into 
the  ocean,  and  let  all  nations  who  stand  in  need  of  them 
pick  them  up  ?  However,  after  a  year,  I  found  that  the 
nutmegs  from  the  Franklin  had  become  soft. 

You  might  make  a  curious  list  of  articles  which  fishes 
have  swallowed,  —  sailors'  open  clasp-knives,  and  bright 
tin  snuff-boxes,  not  knowing  what  was  in  them,  —  and 
jugs,  and  jewels,  and  Jonah.  The  other  day  I  came 
across  the  following  scrap  in  a  newspaper. 

"A  Religious  Fish.  —  A  short  time  ago,  mine  host 
Stewart,  of  the  Denton  Hotel,  purchased  a  rock- fish,  weigh- 
ing about  sixty  pounds.  On  opening  it  he  found  in  it  a  cer- 
tificate of  membership  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  which  we  read 

as  follows : 

Member 
Methodist  E.  Church. 
Founded  A.  D.  1784. 
Quarterly  Ticket.  18 

Minister. 

*  For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for 
us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.'  —  2  Cor.  iv.  17. 

'  0  what  are  all  my  sufferings  here, 
•  If,  Lord,  thou  count  me  meet 
With  that  enraptured  host  t'  appear, 
And  worship  at  thy  feet.' 

•'  The  paper  was  of  course  in  a  crumpled  and  wet  condition, 
but  on  exposing  it  to  the  sun,  and  ironing  the  kinks  out  of 
it,  it  became  quite  legible.  —  Denton  (Md.)  Journal** 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  107 

From  time  to  time  we  saved  a  wreck  ourselves,  a  box 
or  barrel,  and  set  it  on  its  end,  and  appropriated  it  with 
crossed  sticks ;  and  it  will  lie  there  perhaps,  respected 
by  brother  wreckers,  until  some  more  violent  storm  shall 
take  it,  really  lost  to  man  until  wrecked  again.  We  also 
saved,  at  the  cost  of  wet  feet  only,  a  valuable  cord  and 
buoy,  part  of  a  seine,  with  which  the  sea  was  playing, 
for  it  seemed  ungracious  to  refuse  the  least  gift  which  so 
great  a  personage  offered  you.  "We  brought  this  home 
and  still  use  it  for  a  garden  line.  I  picked  up  a  bottle 
half  buried  in  the  wet  sand,  covered  with  barnacles,  but 
stoppled  tight,  and  half  full  of  red  ale,  which  still  smacked 
of  juniper,  —  all  that  remained  I  fancied  from  the  wreck 
of  a  rowdy  world,  —  that  great  salt  sea  on  the  one  hand, 
and  this  little  sea  of  ale  on  the  other,  preserving  their 
separate  characters.  What  if  it  could  tell  us  its  adven- 
tures over  countless  ocean  waves !  Man  would  not  be 
man  through  such  ordeals  as  it  had  passed.  But  as  I 
poured  it  slowly  out  on  to  the  sand,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
man  himself  was  like  a  half-emptied  bottle  of  pale  ale, 
which  Time  had  drunk  so  far,  yet  stoppled  tight  for  a 
while,  and  drifting  about  in  the  ocean  of  circumstances  ; 
but  destine4  erelong  to  mingle  with  the  surrounding 
waves,  or  be  spilled  amid  the  sands  of  a  distant  shore. 

In  the  summer  I.  saw  two  men  fishing  for  Bass  here- 
abouts. Their  bait  was  a  bullfrog,  or  several  small 
frogs  in  a  bunch,  for  want  of  squid.  They  followed  a 
retiring  wave  and  whirling  their  lines  round  and  round 
their  heads  wiih  increasing  rapidity,  threw  them  as  far 
as  they  could  into  thef  sea  ;  then  retreating,  sat  down,  flat 
on  the  sand,  and  waited  for  a  bite.  It  was  literally  (or 
littoraUy)  walking  down  to  the  shore,  and  throwing  your 
line  into  the  Atlantic.     I  should  not  have  known  what 


108  CAPE  COD. 

might  take  hold  of  the  other  end,  whether  Proteus  or 
another.  At  any  rate,  if  you  could  not  pull  him  in,  why, 
you  might  let  him  go  without  being  pulled  in  yourself. 
And  they  knew  by  experience  that  it  would  be  a  Striped 
Bass,  or  perhaps  a  Cod,  for  these  fishes  play  along  near 
'^^he  shore. 

From  time  to  time  we  sat  under  the  lee  of  a  sand-hill 
on  the  bank,  thinly  covered  with  coarse  beach-grass,  and 
steadily  gazed  on  the  sea,  or  watched  the  vessels  going 
south,  all  Blessings  of  the  Bay  of  course.  We  could 
see  a  little  more  than  half  a  circle  of  ocean,  besides  the 
glimpses  of  the  Bay  which  we  got  behind  us ;  the  sea 
there  was  not  wild  and  dreary  in  all  respects,  for  there 
were  frequently  a  hundred  sail  in  sight  at  once  on  the 
Atlantic.  You  can  commonly  count  about  eighty  in  a 
favorable  summer  day,  and  pilots  sometimes  land  and 
ascend  the  bank  to  look  out  for  those  which  require  their 
services.  These  had  been  waiting  for  fair  weather,  and 
had  come  out  of  Boston  Harbor  together.  The  same  is 
the  case  when  they  have  been  assembled  in  the  Vineyard 
Sound,  so  that  you  may  see  but  few  one  day,  and  a  large 
fleet  the  next.  Schooners  with  many  jibs  and  stay-sails 
crowded  all  the  sea  road ;  square-rigged  vessels  with 
their  great  height  and  breadth  of  canvas  were  ever  and 
anon  appearing  out  of  the  far  horizon,  or  disappearing 
and  sinking  into  it ;  here  and  there  a  pilot-boat  was  tow- 
ing its  little  boat  astern  toward  some  distant  foreigner 
who  had  just  fired  a  gun,  the  echo  of  which  along  the 
shore  sounded  like  the  caving  of  the  bank.  We  could 
see  the  pilot  looking  through  his  glass  toward  the  distant 
ship  which  was  putting  back  to  speak  with  him.  He 
sails  many  a  mile  to  meet  her ;  and  now  she  puts  her 
sails  aback,  and  communicates  with  him  alongside, — 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  109 

sends  some  important  message  to  the  owners,  and  then 
bids  farewell  to  these  shores  for  good  and  all ;  or,  per- 
chance a  propeller  passed  and  made  fast  to  some  disabled 
craft,  or  one  that  had  been  becalmed,  whose  cargo  of 
fruit  might  spoil.  Though  silently,  and  for  the  most  part 
incommunicatively,  going  about  their  business,  they  were, 
no  doubt,  a  source  of  cheerfulness  and  a  kind  of  society 
to  one  another. 

To-day  it  was  the  Purple  Sea,  an  epithet  which  I 
should  not  before  have  accepted.  There  were  distinct 
patches  of  the  color  of  a  purple  grape  with  the  bloom 
rubbed  off.  But  first  and  last  the  sea  is  of  all  colors. 
Well  writes  Gilpin  concerning  "  the  brilliant  hues  which 
are  continually  playing  on  the  surface  of  a  quiet  ocean,** 
and  this  was  not  too  turbulent  at  a  distance  from  the 
shore.  "  Beautiful,"  says  he,  "no  doubt  in  a  high  degree 
are  those  glimmering  tints  which  often  invest  the  tops  of 
mountains  ;  but  they  are  mere  coruscations  compared 
with  these  marine  colors,  which  are  continually  varying 
and  shifting  into  each  other  in  all  the  vivid  splendor  of 
the  rainbow,  through  the  space  often  of  several  leagues.** 
Commonly,  in  calm  weather,  for  half  a  mile  from  the 
shore,  where  the  bottom  tinges  it,  the  sea  is  green,  or 
greenish,  as  are  some  ponds ;  then  blue  for  many  miles, 
often  with  purple  tinges,  bounded  in  the  distance  by  a 
light  almost  silvery  stripe ;  beyond  which  there  is  gener- 
ally a  dark-blue  rim,  like  a  mountain  ridge  in  the  hori- 
zon, as  if,  like  that,  it  owed  its  color  to  the  intervening 
atmosphere.  On  another  day  it  will  be  marked  with 
long  streaks,  alternately  smooth  and  rippled,  light-colored 
and  dark,  even  like  our  inland  meadows  in  a  freshet, 
and  showing  which  way  the  wind  sets. 

Thus  we  sat  on  the  foaming  shore,  looking  on  the 
wine-colored  ocean,  — 


lip  CAPE  COD. 

Qiu  e(f>  d\6s  noKirji,  opocov  em  oivona  ttovtov. 
Here  and  there  was  a  darker  spot  on  its  surface,  the 
shadow  of  a  cloud,  though  the  sky  was  so  clear  that 
no  cloud  would  have  been  noticed  otherwise,  and  no 
shadow  would  have  been  seen  on  the  land,  where  a 
much  smaller  surface  is  visible  at  once.  So,  distant 
clouds  and  showers  may  be  seen  on  all  sides  by  a  sailor 
in  the  course  of  a  day,  which  do  not  necessarily  portend 
rain  where  he  is.  In  July  we  saw  similar  dark-blue 
patches  where  schools  of  Menhaden  rippled  the  surface, 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the  shadows  of  clouds. 
Sometimes  the  sea  was  spotted  with  them  far  and  wide, 
such  is  its  inexhaustible  fertility.  Close  at  hand  you  see 
their  back  fin,  which  is  very  long  and  sharp,  projecting 
two  or  three  inches  above  water.  From  time  to  time 
also  we  saw  the  white  bellies  of  the  Bass  playing  along 
the  shore.  « 

It  was  a  poetic  recreation  to  watch  those  distant  sails 
steering  for  half  fabulous  ports,  whose  very  names  are  a 
mysterious  music  to  our  ears :  Fayal,  and  Babel-mandel, 
ay,  and  Chagres,  and  Panama, —  bound  to  the  famous 
Bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  the  golden  streams  of  Sacra- 
mento and  San  Joaquin,  to  Feather  River  and  the 
American  Fork,  where  Sutter's  Fort  presides,  and  inland 
stands  the  City  de  los  Angeles.  It  is  remarkable  that 
men  do  not  sail  the  sea  with  more  expectation.  Nothing 
remarkable  was  ever  accomplished  in  a  prosaic  mood. 
The  heroes  and  discoverers  have  found  true  more  than 
was  previously  believed,  only  when  they  were  expecting 
and  dreaming  of  something  more  than  their  contempo- 
raries dreamed  of,  or  even  themselves  discovered,  that 
is,  when  they  were  in  a  frame  of  mind  fitted  to  behold 
the  truth.     Referred  to  the  world's  standard,  they  are 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  Ill 

always  insane.  Even  savages  have  indirectly  surmised 
as  much.  Humboldt,  speaking  of  Columbus  approach- 
ing the  New  World,  says :  "  The  grateful  coolness  of 
the  evening  air,  the  ethereal  purity  of  the  starry  firma- 
ment, the  balmy  fragrance  of  flowers,  wafted  to  him  by 
the  land  breeze,  all  led  him  to  suppose  (as  we  are  told 
by  Herrera,  in  the  Decades)  that  he  was  approaching 
the  garden  of  Eden,  the  sacred  abode  of  our  first  parents. 
The  Orinoco  seemed  to  him  one  of  the  four  rivers  which, 
according  to  the  venerable  trmiition  of  the  ancient  world, 
flowed  from  Paradise,  to  water  and  divide  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  newly  adorned  with  plants.'*  So  even  the 
expeditions  for  the  discovery  of  El  Dorado,  and  of  the 
Fountain  of  Youth,  led  to  real,  if  not  compensatory  dis- 
coveries. 

We  discerned  vessels  so  far  off,  when  once  we  began 
to  look,  that  only  the  tops  of  their  masts  in  the  horizon 
were  visible,  and  it  took  a  strong  intention  of  the  eye, 
and  its  most  favorable  side,  to  see  them  at  all,  and  some- 
times we  doubted  if  we  were  not  counting  our  eyelashes. 
Charles  Darwin  states  that  he  saw,  from  the  base  of  the 
Andes,  "  the  masts  of  the  vessels  at  anchor  in  the  bay  of 
Valparaiso,  although  not  less  than  twenty-six  geograph- 
ical iiLiles  distant,**  and  that  Anson  had  been  surprised 
at  the  distance  at  which  his  vessels  were  discovered  from 
the  coast,  without  knowing  the  reason,  namely,  the  great 
height  of  the  land  and  the  transparency  of  the  air. 
Steamers  may  be  detected  much  farther  than  sailing 
vessels,  for,  as  one  says,  when  their  hulls  and  masts  of 
wood  and  iron  are  down,  their  smoky  masts  and  stream- 
ers still  betray  them ;  and  the  same  writer,  speaking  of 
the  comparative  advantages  of  bituminous  and  anthracite 
coal  for  war-steamers,  states  -that,  "  from  the  ascent  of 


112  CAPE  COD. 

the  columns  of  smoke  above  the  horizon,  the  motions 
of  the  steamers  in  Calais  Harbor  [on  the  coast  of 
France]  are  at  all  times  observable  at  Ramsgate  [on 
the  English  coast],  from  the  first  lighting  of  the  fires  to 
the  putting  out  at  sea ;  and  that  in  America  the  steamers 
burning  the  fat  bituminous  coal  can  be  tracked  at  sea  at 
least  seventy  miles  before  the  hulls  become  visible,  by 
the  dense  columns  of  black  smoke  pouring  out  of  their 
chimneys,  and  trailing  along  the  horizon." 

Though  there  were  numerous  vessels  at  this  great  dis- 
tance in  the  horizon  on  every  side,  yet  the  vast  spaces 
between  them,  like  the  spaces  between  the  stars,  far  as 
they  were  distant  from  us,  so  were  they  from  one  an- 
other —  nay,  some  were  twice  as  far  from  each  other  as 
from  us,  —  impressed  us  with  a  sense  of  the  immensity  of 
the  ocean,  the  "  unfruitful  ocean,"  as  it  has  been  called, 
and  we  could  see  what  proportion  man  and  his  works 
bear  to  the  globe.  As  we  looked  off,  and  saw  the  water 
growing  darker  and  darker  and  deeper  and  deeper  the 
farther  we  looked,  till  it  was  awful  to  consider,  and  it 
appeared  to  have  no  relation  to  the  friendly  land,  either 
as  shore  or  bottom,  —  of  what  use  is  a  bottom  if  it  is  out 
of  sight,  if  it  is  two  or  three  miles  from  the  surface,  and 
you  are  to  be  drowned  so  long  before  you  get  to  it, 
though  it  were  made  of  the  same  stuff  with  your  native 
soil  ?  —  over  that  ocean,  where,  as  the  Veda  says,  "  there 
is  nothing  to  give  support,  nothing  to  rest  upon,  nothing 
to  cling  to,"  I  felt  that  I  was  a  land  animal.  The  man 
in  a  balloon  even  may  commonly  alight  on  the  earth  in 
a  few  moments,  but  the  sailor's  only  hope  is  that  he  may 
reach  the  distant  shore.  I  could  then  appreciate  the 
heroism  of  the  old  navigator.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  of 
whom  it  is  related,  that  being  overtaken  by  a  storm 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  113 

when  on  his  return  from  America,  in  the  year  1583,  far 
northeastward  from  where  we  were,  sitting  abaft  With  a 
book  in  his  hand,  just  before  he  was  swallowed  up  in  the 
deep,  he  cried  out  to  his  comrades  in  the  Hind,  as  thej 
came  within  hearing,  "We  are  as  near  to  Heaven  by 
sea  as  by  land."  I  saw  that  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
realize. 

On  Cape  Cod,  the  next  most  eastern  land  you  hear  of 
is  St.  George's  Bank  (the  fishermen  tell  of  '*  Georges," 
"  Cashus,"  and  other  sunken  lands  which  they  frequent). 
Every  Cape  man  has  a  theory  about  George's  Bank 
having  been  an  island  once,  and  in  their  accounts  they 
gradually  reduce  the  shallowness  from  six,  five,  four, 
two  fathoms,  to  somebody's  confident  assertion  that  he 
has  seen  a  mackerel-gull  sitting  on  a  piece  of  dry  land 
there.  It  reminded  me,  when  I  thought  of  the  ship- 
wrecks which  had  taken  place  there,  of  the  Isle  of 
Demons,  laid  down  off  this  coast  in  old  charts  of  the 
New  World.  There  must  be  something  monstrous,  me- 
thinks,  in  a  vision  of  the  sea  bottom  from  over  some 
bank  a  thousand  miles  from  the  shore,  more  awful  than 
its  imagined  bottomlessness ;  a  drowned  continent,  all 
hvid  and  frothing  at  the  nostrils,  like  the  body  of  a 
dro\vned  man,  which  is  better  sunk  deep  than  near  the 
surface. 

I  have  been  surprised  to  discover  from  a  steamer  the 
shallowness  of  Massachusetts  Bay  itself.  Off  Billings- 
gate Point  I  could  have  touched  the  bottom  with  a  pole, 
and  I  plainly  saw  it  variously  shaded  with  sea-weed,  at 
five  or  six  miles  from  the  shore.  This  is  "  The  Shoal- 
ground  of  the  Cape,"  it  is  true,  but  elsewhere  the  Bay  is 
not  much  deeper  than  a  country  pond.  We  are  told 
that  the  deepest  water  in  the  English  Channel  between 


114  CAPE  COD. 

Shakespeare's  Cliff  and  Cape  Grindz,  in  France,  is  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet ;  and  Guyot  says  that  "  the  Bal- 
tic Sea  has  a  depth  of  only  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
between  the  coasts  of  Germany  and  those  of  Sweden," 
and  "  the  Adriatic  between  Venice  and  Trieste  has  a 
depth  of  only  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet."  A  pond  in 
my  native  town,  only  half  a  mile  long,  is  more  than  one 
hundred  feet  deep. 

The  ocean  is  but  a  larger  lake.  At  midsummer  you 
may  sometimes  see  a  strip  of  glassy  smoothness  on  it,  a 
few  rods  in  width  and  many  miles  long,  as  if  the  surface 
there  were  covered  with  a  thin  pellicle  of  oil,  just  as  on 
a  country  pond ;  a  sort  of  stand-still,  you  would  say,  at 
the  meeting  or  parting  of  two  currents  of  air  (if  it  does 
not  rather  mark  the  unrippled  steadiness  of  a  current 
of  water  beneath),  for  sailors  tell  of  the  ocean  and  land 
breeze  meeting  between  the  fore  and  aft  sails  of  a  vessel, 
while  the  latter  are  full,  the  former  being  suddenly  taken 
aback.  Daniel  Webster,  in  one  of  his  letters  describing 
blue-fishing  off  Martha's  Vineyard,  referring  to  those 
smooth  places,  which  fishermen  and  sailors  call  "  slicks," 
says :  "  We  met  with  them  yesterday,  and  our  boatman 
made  for  them,  whenever  discovered.  He  said  they 
were  caused  by  the  bhie-fish  chopping  up  their  prey. 
That  is  to  say,  those  voracious  fellows  get  into  a  school 
of  menhaden,  which  are  too  large  to  swallow  whole,  and 
they  bite  them  into  pieces  to  suit  their  tastes.  And 
the  oil  from  this  butchery,  rising  to  the  surface,  makes 
the'sHck.'" 

Yet  this  same  placid  Ocean,  as  civil  now  as  a  city's 
harbor,  a  place  for  ships  and  commerce,  will  erelong 
be  lashed  into  sudden  fury,  and  all  its  caves  and  cliffs 
will   resound   with   tumult.      It   will   ruthlessly   heave 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  115 

these  vessels  to  and  fro,  break  them  in  pieces  in  its 
sandy  or  stony  jaws,  and  deliver  their  crews  to  sea- 
monsters.  It  will  play  with  them  like  sea-weed,  distend 
them  like  dead  frogs,  and  carry  them  about,  now  high, 
now  low,  to  show  to  the  fishes,  giving  them  d  nibble. 
This  gentle  Ocean  will  toss  and  tear  the  rag  of  a  man's 
body  hke  the  father  of  mad  bulls,  and  his  relatives  may 
be  seen  seeking  the  remnants  for  weeks  along  the  strand. 
From  some  quiet  inland  hamlet  they  have  rushed  weep- 
ing to  the  unheard-of  shore,  and  now  stand  uncertain 
where  a  sailor  has  recently  been  buried  amid  the  sand- 
hills. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  they  who  have  long  been 
conversant  with  the  Ocean  can  foretell,  by  certain  indi- 
cations, such  as  its  roar  and  the  notes  of  sea-fowl, 
when  it  will  change  from  calm  to  storm ;  but  probably 
no  such  ancient  mariner  as  we  dream  of  exists;  they 
know  no  more,  at  least,  than  the  older  sailors  do  about 
this  voyage  of  life  on  which  we  are  all  embarked.  Nev- 
ertheless, w«  love  to  hear  the  sayings  of  old  sailors,  and 
their  accounts  of  natural  phenomena,  which  totally- ignore, 
ana  are  ignored  by,  science ;  and  possibly  they  have  not 
always  looked  over  the  gunwale  so  long  in  vain.  Kalm 
repeats  a  story  which  was  told  him  in  Philadelphia  by  a 
Mr.  Cock,  who  was  one  day  bailing  to  the  West  Indies 
in  a  small  yacht,  with  an  old  man  on  board  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  those  seas.  "  The  old  man  sounding  the 
depth,  called  to  the  mate  to  tell  Mr.  Cock  to  launch  the 
boats  immediately,  and  to  put  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
into  them,  in  order  to  tow  the  yacht  during  the  calm, 
that  they  might  reach  the  island  before  them  as  soon  as 
possible,  as  within  twenty-four  hours  there  would  be  a 
strong  hurricane.     Mr.  Cock  asked  him  what  reasons  he 


116  CAPE  COD. 

had  to  think  so ;  the  old  man  replied,  that  on  sounding, 
he  saw  the  lead  in  the  water  at  a  distance  of  many- 
fathoms  more  than  he  had  seen  it  before ;  that  therefore 
the  water  was  become  clear  all  of  a  sudden,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  a  certain  sign  of  an  impending  hurricane 
in  the  sea."  The  sequel  of  the  story  is,  that  by  good 
fortune,  and  by  dirit  of  rowing,  they  managed  to  gain  a 
safe  harbor  before  the  hurricane  had  reached  its  height ; 
but  it  finally  raged  with  so  much  violence,  that  not  only 
many  ships  were  lost  and  houses  unroofed,  but  even  their 
own  vessel  in  harbor  was  washed  so  far  on  shore  that 
several  weeks  elapsed  before  it  could  be  got  off. 

The  Greeks  would  not  have  called  the  ocean  arpvy^To^, 
or  unfruitful,  though  it  does  not  produce  wheat,  if  they 
had  viewed  it  by  the  light  of  modern  science,  for  natu- 
ralists now  assert  that  "  the  sea,  and  not  the  land,  is  the 
principal  seat  of  life,"  —  though  not  of  vegetable  life. 
Darwin  affirms  that  "  our  most  thickly  inhabited  forests 
appear  almost  as  deserts  when  we  come  to  compare  them 
with  the  corresponding  regions  of  the  ocean."  Agassiz 
and  Gould  tell  us  that  "the  sea  teems  with  animals  of 
all  classes,  far  beyond  the  extreme  point  of  flowering 
plants " ;  but  they  add,  that  "  experiments  of  dredging 
in  very  deep  water  have  also  taught  us  that  the  abyss  of 
the  ocean  is  nearly  a  desert " ;  — "  so  that  modern  in- 
vestigations," to  quote  the  words  of  Desor,  "  merely  go 
to  confirm  the  great  idea  which  was  vaguely  anticipated 
by  the  ancient  poets  and  philosophers,  that  the  Ocean  is 
the  origin  of  all  things."  Yet  marine  animals  and  plants 
hold  a  lower  rank  in  the  scale  of  being  than  land  animals 
and  plants.  "  There  is  no  instance  known,"  says  Desor, 
"  of  an  animal  becoming  aquatic  in  its  perfect  state,  after 
having  lived  in  its  lower  stage  on  dry  land,"  but  as  in 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN.  117 

the  case  of  the  tadpole,  "  the  progress  invariably  points 
towards  the  dry  land."  In  short,  the  dry  land  itself 
came  through  and  out  of  the  water  in  its  way  to  the 
heavens,  for,  "  in  going  back  through  the  geological  ages, 
we  come  to  an  epoch  when,  according  to  all  appearances, 
the  dry  land  did  not  exist,  and  when  the  surface  of  our 
globe  was  entirely  covered  with  water."  We  looked  on 
the  sea,  then,  once  more,  not  as  arpvytTos,  or  unfruitful, 
but  as  it  has  been  more  truly  called,  the  "  laboratory  of 
continents." 

Though  we  have  indulged  in  some  placid  reflections 
of  late,  the  reader  must  not  forget  that  the  dash  and  roar 
of  the  waves  were  incessant.  Indeed,  it  would  be  well 
if  he  were  to  read  with  a  large  conch-shell  at  his  ear. 
But  notwithstanding  that  it  was  very  cold  and  windy  to- 
day, it  was  such  a  cold  as  we  thought  would  not  cause 
one  to  take  cold  who  was  exposed  to  it,  owing  to  the 
saltness  of  the  air  and  the  dryness  of  the  soil.  Yet  the 
author  of  the  old  Description  of  Wellfleet  says  :  "  The 
atmosphere  is  very  much  impregnated  with  saline  par- 
ticles, which,  perhaps,  with  the  great  use  of  fish,  and  the 
neglect  of  cider  and  spruce-beer,  may  be  a  reason  why 
the  people  are  more  subject  to  sore  mouths  and  throats 
than  in  other  places." 


VII. 
ACROSS    THE    CAPE. 

When  we  have  returned  from  the  sea-side,  we  some- 
times ask  ourselves  why  we  did  not  spend  more  time  in 
gazing  at  the  sea ;  but  very  soon  the  traveller  does  not 
look  at  the  sea  more  than  at  the  heavens.  As  for  the 
interior,  if  the  elevated  sand-har  in  the  midst  of  the 
ocean  can  be  said  to  have  any  interior,  it  was  an 
exceedingly  desolate  landscape,  with  rarely  a  cultivated 
or  cultivable  field  in  sight.  We  saw  no  villages,  and 
seldom  a  house,  for  these  are  generally  on  the  Bay  side. 
It  was  a  succession  of  shrubby  hills-  and  valleys,  now 
wearing  an  autumnal  tint.  You  would  frequently  think, 
from  the  character  of  the  surface,  the  dwarfish  trees,  and 
the  bearberries  around,  that  you  were  on  the  top  of  a 
mountain.  The  only  wood  in  Easthani  was  on  the  edge 
of  Wellfleet.  The  pitch-pines  were  not  commonly  more 
than  fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  high.  The  larger  ones  were 
covered  with  lichens,  —  often  hung  with  the  long  gray 
Usnea.  There  is  scarcely  a  white-pine  on  the  forearm 
of  the  Cape.  Yet  in  the  northwest  part  of  Eastham, 
near  the  Camp  Ground,  we  saw,  the  next  summer,  some 
quite  rural,  and  even  sylvan  retreats,  for  the  Cape, 
where  small  rustling  groves  of  oaks  and  locusts  and 
whispering  pines,  on  perfectly  level  ground,  made  a  little 


ACROSS  THE   CAPE.  119 

paradise.  The  locusts,  both  transplanted  and  growing 
naturally  about  the  houses  there,  appeared  to  flourish 
better  than  anj  other  tree.  There  were  thin  belts  of 
wood  in  Wellfleet  and  Truro,  a  mile  or  more  from  the 
Atlantic,  but,  for  the  most  part,  we  could  see  the  horizon 
through  them,  or,  if  extensive,  the  trees  were  not  large. 
Both  oaks  and  pines  had  often  the  same  flat  look  with 
the  apple-trees.  Commonly,  the  oak  woods  twenty-five 
years  old  were  a  mere  scraggy  shrubbery  nine  or  ten 
feet  high,  and  we  could  frequently  reach  to  their  topmost 
leaf.  Much  that  is  called  "  woods "  was  about  half  as 
high  as  this,  —  only  patches  of  shrub-oak,  bayberry, 
beach-plum,  and  wild  roses,  overrun  with  woodbine. 
When  the  roses  were  in  bloom,  these  patches  in  the 
midst  of  the  sand  displayed  such  a  profusion  of  blossoms, 
mingled  with  the  aroma  of  the  bayberry,  that  no  Italian 
or  other  artificial  rose-garden  could  equal  them.  They 
were  perfectly  Elysian,  and  realized  my  idea  of  an  oasis 
in  the  desert.  Huckleberry-bushes  were  very  abundant, 
and  the  next  summer  they  bore  a  remarkable  quantity 
of  that  kind  of  gall  called  lluckleberry-apple,  forming 
quite  handsome  though  monstrous  blossoms.  But  it 
must  be  added,  that  this  shrubbery  swarmed  with  wood- 
ticks,  sometimes  very  troublesome  parasites,  and  which 
it  takes  very  horny  fingers  to  crack. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  towns  have  a  great  regard 
for  a  tree,  though  their  standard  for  one  is  necessarily 
neither  large  nor  high ;  and  when  they  tell  you  of  the 
large  trees  that  once  grew  here,  you  must  think  of  them, 
not  as  absolutely  large,  but  large  compared  with  the 
present  generation.  Their  "brave  old  oaks,"  of  which 
th^y  speak  with  so  much  respect,  and  which  they  will 
point   out    to    you    as    relics    of   the    primitive    forest, 


120  CAPE  COD. 

one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  fifty,  ay,  for  aught 
they  know,  two  hundred  years  old,  have  a  ridicu- 
lously dwarfish  appearance,  which  excites  a  smile  in 
the  beholder.  The  largest  and  most  venerable  which 
they  will  show  you  in  such  a  case  are,  perhaps,  riot 
more  than  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  high.  I  was 
especially  amused  by  the  Liliputian  old  oaks  in  the 
south  part  of  Truro.  To  the  inexperienced  eye,  which 
appreciated  their  proportions  only,  they  might  appear 
vast  as  the  tree  which  saved  his  royal  majesty,  but 
measured,  they  were  dwarfed  at  once  almost  into  lichens 
which  a  deer  might  eat  up  in  a  morning.  Yet  they  will 
tell  you  that  large  schooners  were  once  built  of  timber 
which  grew  in  Wellfleet.  The  old  houses  also  are  built 
of  the  timber  of  the  Cape ;  but  instead  of  the  forests  in 
the  midst  of  which  they  originally  stood,  barren  heaths, 
with  poverty-grass  for  heather,  now  stretch  away  on 
every  side.  The  modern  houses  are  built  of  what  is 
called  "dimension  timber,"  imported  from  Maine,  all 
ready  to  be  set  up,  so  that  commonly  they  do  not  touch 
it  again  with  an  axe.  Almost  all  the  wood  used  for  fuel 
is  imported  by  vessels  or  currents,  and  of  course  all  the 
coal.  I  was  told  that  probably  a  quarter  of  the  fuel  and 
a  considerable  part  of  the  lumber  used  in  North  Truro 
was  drift-wood.  Many  get  aU  their  fuel  from  the 
beach. 

Of  birds  not  found  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  —  a.i 
least  in  my  neighborhood,  —  I  heard,  in  the  summer,  the 
Black-throated  Bunting  {FringiUa  Americana)  amid  the 
shrubbery,  and  in  the  open  land  the  Upland  Plover 
{Totanus  Bartramius)^  whose  quivering  notes  were  ever 
and  anon  prolonged  into  a  clear,  somewhat  plaintive, 
yet  hawk-like  scream,  which  sounded  at  a  very  indefi- 


ACROSS  THE   CAPE  121 

nite  distance.     The  bird  may  have  been  in  the  next 
field,  though  it  sounded  a  mile  off. 

To-day  we  were  walking  through  Truro,  a  town  of 
about  eighteen  hundred  inhabitants.  We  had  already 
come  to  Pamet  River,  which  empties  into  the  Bay. 
This  was  the  limit  of  the  Pilgrims'  journey  up  the  Cape 
from  Provincetown,  when  seeking  a  place  for  settlement. 
It  rises  in  a  hollow  within  a  few  rods  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  one  who  lives  near  its  source  told  us  that  in  high 
tides  the  sea  leaked  through,  yet  the  wind  and  waves 
preserve  intact  the  barrier  between  them,  and  thus  the 
whole  river  is  steadily  driven  westward  butt-end  fore- 
most,—  fountain-head,  channel,  and  light-house  at  the 
mouth,  all  together. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  Highland 
Light,  whose  white  tower  we  had  seen  rising  out  of  the 
bank  in  front  of  us  for  the  last  mile  or  two.  It  is  four- 
teen miles  from  the  Nauset  Lights,  on  what  is  called  the 
Clay  Pounds,  an  immense  bed  of  clay  abutting  on  the 
Atlantic,  and,  as  the  keeper  told  us,  stretching  quite 
across  the  Cape,  which  is  here  only  about  two  miles 
wide.  We  perceived  at  once  a  difference  in  the  soil,  for. 
there  was.  an  interruption  of  the  desert,  and  a  slight 
appearance  of  a  sod  under  our  feet,  such  as  we  had  not 
seen  for  the  last  two  days. 

After  arranging  to  lodge  at  the  light-house,  we  ram- 
bled across  the  Cape  to  the  Bay,  over  a  singularly  bleak 
and  barren  looking  countrj',  consisting  of  rounded  hills 
and  hollows,  called  by  geologists  diluvial  elevations  and 
depressions,  —  a  kind  of  scenery  which  has  been  com- 
pared to  a  chopped  sea,  though  this  suggests  too  sudden 
a  transition.  There  is  a  delineation  of  this  very  land- 
scape in  Hitchcock's  Report  on  the  Geology  of  Massa- 


122  CAPE  COD. 

chusetts,  a  work  wh^'ch,  by  its  size  at  least,  reminds  one 
of  a  diluvial  elevation  itself.  Looking  southward  from 
the  light-house,  the  Cape  appeared  like  an  elevated 
plateau,  sloping  very  regularly,  though  slightly,  down- 
ward from  the  edge  of  the  bank  on  the  Atlantic  side, 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  ocean,  to 
that  on  the  Bay  side.  On  traversing  this  we  found  it 
to  be  interrupted  by  broad  valleys  or  gullies,  which 
become  the  hollows  in  the  bank  when  the  sea  has  worn 
up  to  them.  They  are  commonly  at  right  angles  with 
the  shore,  and  often  extend  quite  across  the  Cape. 
Some  of  the  valleys,  however,  are  circular,  a  hundred 
feet  deep  without  any  outlet,  as  if  the  Cape  had  sunk  in 
those  places,  or  its  sands  had  run  out.  The  few  scat- 
tered houses  which  we  passed,  being  placed  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  hollows  for  shelter  and  fertility,  were,  for  the 
most  part,  concealed  entirely,  as  much  as  if  they  had 
been  swallowed  up  in  the  earth.  Even  a  village  with 
its  meeting-house,  which  we  had  left  little  more  than 
a  stone's  throw  behind,  had  sunk  into  the  earth,  spire 
and  all,  and  we  saw  only  the  surface  of  the  upland 
and  the  sea  on  either  hand.  When  approaching  it,  we 
had  mistaken  the  belfry  for  a  summer-house  on  the 
plain.  We  began  to  think  that  we  might  tumble  into 
a  village  before  we  were  aware  of  it,  as  into  an  ant- 
lion's  hole,  and  be  drawn  into  the  sand  irrecoverably. 
The  most  conspicuous  objects  on  the  land  were  a  dis- 
tant windmill,  or  a  meeting-house  standing  alone,  for 
only  they  could  afford  to  occupy  an  exposed  place. 
A  great  part  of  the  township,  however,  is  a  barren, 
heath-like  plain,  and  perhaps  one  third  of  it  lies  in 
common,  though  the  property  of  individuals.  The 
author  of  the   old   "  Description   of  Truro,"   speaking 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  123 

of  the  soil,  says :  "  The  snow,  which  would  be  of 
essential  service  to  it  provided  it  lay  level  and  cov- 
ered the  ground,  is  blown  into  drifts  and  into  the  sea." 
This  peculiar  open  country,  with  here  and  there  a 
patch  of  shrubbery,  extends  as  much  as  seven  miles, 
or  from  Pamet  River  on  the  south  to  High  Head  on 
the  nortli,  and  from  Ocean  to  Bay.  To  walk  over  it 
makes  on  a  stranger  such  an  impression  as  being  at 
sea,  and  he  finds  it  impossible  to  estimate  distances  in 
any  weather.  A  windmill  or  a  herd  of  cows  may  seem 
to  be  far  away  in  the  horizon,  yet,  after  going  a  few 
rods,  he  will  be  close  upon  them.  He  is  also  deluded 
by  other  kinds  of  mirage.  When,  in  the  summer,  I  saw 
a  family  a-blueberrying  a  mile  off,  walking  about  amid 
the  dwarfish  bushes  which  did  not  come  up  higher  than 
their  ankles,  they  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  race  of  giants, 
twenty  feet  high  at  least. 

The  highest  and  sandiest  portion  next  the  Atlantic 
was  thinly  covered  with  Beach-grass  and  Indigo-weed. 
Next  to  this  the  surface  of  the  upland  generally  con- 
sisted of  white  sand  and  gravel,  Hke  coarse  salt,  through 
which  a  scanty  vegetation  found  its  way  up.  It  will 
give  an  ornithologist  some  idea  of  its  barrenness  if  I 
mention  that  the  next  June,  the  month  of  grass,  I 
found  a  night-hawk's  eggs  there,  and  that  almost  any 
square  rod  thereabouts,  taken  at  random,  would  be  an 
eligible  site  for  such  a  deposit  The  kildeer-plover, 
which  loves  a  similar  locality,  also  drops  its  eggs  there, 
and  fills  the  air  above  with  its  din.  This  upland  also 
produced  Cladonia  lichens,  poverty-grass,  savory-leaved 
aster  {Diplopajypus  linariifolius),  mouse-ear,  bearberry, 
&c.  On  a  few  hillsides  the  savory-leaved"  aster  and 
mouse-ear  alone  made  quite  a  dense  sward,  said  to  be 


124  CAPE  COD. 

very  pretty  when  th*»  aster  is  in  bloom.  In  some  parts 
the  two  species  of  poverty-grass  {Hudsonia  tomentosa 
and  ericoides),  which  deserve  a  better  name,  reign  for 
miles  in  little  hemispherical  tufts  or  islets,  like  moss, 
scattered  over  the  waste.  They  linger  in  bloom  there 
till  the  middle  of  July.  Occasionally  near  the  beach 
these  rounded  beds,  as  also  those  of  the  sea-sandwort 
(^Honkenya  peploides),  were  filled  with  sand  within  an  inch 
of  their  tops,  and  were  hard,  hke  large  ant-hills,  while  the 
surrounding  sand  was  soft.  In  summer,  if  the  poverty- 
grass  grows  at  the  head  of  a  Hollow  looking  toward  the 
sea,  in  a  bleak  position  where  the  wind  rushes  up,  the 
northern  or  exposed  half  of  the  tuft  is  sometimes  all 
black  and  dead  like  an  oven-broom,  while  the  opposite 
half  is  yellow  with  blossoms,  the  whole  hillside  thus 
presenting  a  remarkable  contrast  when  seen  from  the 
poverty-stricken  and  the  flourishing  side.  This  plant, 
which  in  many  places  would  be  esteemed  an  orna- 
ment, is  here  despised  by  many  on  account  of  its 
being  associated  with  barrenness.  It  might  well  be 
adopted  for  the  Barnstable  coat-of-arms,  in  a  field 
sableux.  I  should  be  proud  of  it.  Here  and  there 
were  tracts  of  Beach-grass  mingled  with  the  Sea->ide 
Golden-rod  and  Beach-pea,  which  reminded  us  still  more 
forcibly  of  the  ocean. 

We  read  that  there  was  not  a  brook  in  Truro.  Yet 
there  were  deer  here  once,  which  must  often  have  panted 
in  vain ;  but  I  am  pretty  sure  that  I  afterward  saw  a 
small  fresh-water  brook  emptying  into  the  south  side  of 
Pamet  River,  though  I  was  so  heedless  as  not  to  taste 
it.  At  any  rate,  a  little  boy  near  by  told  me  that  he 
drank  at  it.  There  was  not  a  tree  as  far  as  we  could 
see,  and  that  was  many  miles  each  way,  the  general 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  125 

level  of  the  upland  being  about  the  same  everywhere. 
Even  from  the  Atlantic  side  we  overlooked  the  Bay,  and 
saw  to  Mimomet  Point  in  Plymouth,  and  better  from 
that  side  because  it  was  the  highest  The  almost  univer- 
sal bareness  and  smoothness  of  the  landscape  were  as 
agreeable  as  novel,  making  it  so  much  the  more  like  the 
deck  of  a  vessel.  We  saw  vessels  sailing  south  into  the 
Bay,  on  the  one  hand,  and  north  along  the  Atlantic 
shore,  on  the  other,  all  witli  an  aft  wind. 

The  single  road  which  runs  lengthwise  the  Cape,  now 
winding  over  the  plain,  now  through  the  shrubbery 
which  scrapes  the  wheels  of  the  stiige,  was  a  mere  cart- 
track  in  the  sand,  commonly  without  any  fences  to  con- 
fine it,  and  continually  changing  from  this  side  to  that,  to 
harder  ground,  or  sometimes  to  avoid  the  tide.  But  the 
inhabitants  travel  the  waste  here  and  there  pilgrim-wise 
and  staflf  in  hand,  by  narrow  footpaths,  tlirough  which 
the  sand  flows  out  and  reveals  the  nakedness  of  the  land. 
We  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  hving  there  and  taking 
our  afternoon  walks  over  those  barren  swells,  where  we 
could  overlook  every  step  of  our  walk  before  taking  it, 
and  would  have  to  pray  for  a  fog  or  a  snow-storm  to 
conceal  our  destiny.  The  walker  there  must  soon  eat 
his  heart. 

In  the  north  part  of  the  town  there  is  no  house  from 
shore  to  shore  for  several  miles,  and  it  is  as  wild  and  soli- 
tary as  the  Western  Prairies  —  used  to  be.  Indeed,  one 
who  has  seen  every  house  in  Truro  will  be  surprised  to 
hear  of  the  number  of  the  inhabitant^  but  perhaps  five 
hundred  of  the  men  and  boys  of  this  small  town  were 
then  abroad  on  their  fishing-grounds.  Only  a  few  men 
stay  at  home  to  till  the  sand  or  watch  for  black  fish. 
The  farmers  are  fishermen-farmers,  and  understand  better 


126  CAPE  COD. 

ploughing  the  sea  than  the  land.  They  do  not  disturb 
their  sands  much,  though  there  is  a  plenty  of  sea-weed  in 
the  creeks,  to  say  nothing  of  blackfish  occasionally  rot- 
ting on  the  shore.  Between  the  Pond  and  East  Harbor 
Village  there  was  an  interesting  plantation  of  pitch-pines, 
twenty  or  thirty  acres  in  extent,  like  those  which  we  had 
already  seen  from  the  stage.  One  who  lived  near  said 
that  the  land  was  purchased  by  two  men  for  a  shilling 
or  twenty-five  cents  an  acre.  Some  is  not  considered 
worth  writing  a  deed  for.  This  soil  or  sand,  which  was 
partially  covered  with  poverty  and  beach  grass,  sorrel,  &c., 
was  furrowed  at  intervals  of  about  four  feet  and  the  seed 
dropped  by  a  machine.  The  pines  had  come  up  admirably 
and  grown  the  first  year  three  or  four  inches,  and  the 
second  six  inches  and  more.  Where  the  seed  had  been 
lately  planted  the  white  sand  was  freshly  exposed  in  an 
endless  furrow  winding  round  and  round  the  sides  of  the 
deep  hollows,  in  a  vortical  spiral  manner,  which  pro- 
duced a  very  singular  effect,  as  if  you  were  looking  into 
the  reverse  side  of  a  vast  banded  shield.  This  experi- 
ment, so  important  to  the  Cape,  appeared  very  success- , 
ful,  and  perhaps  the  time  will  come  when  the  greater 
part  of  this  kind  of  land  in  Barnstable  County  will  be 
thus  covered  with  an  artificial  pine  forest,  as  has  been 
done  in  some  parts  of  France.  In  that  country  12,500 
acres  of  downs  had  been  thus  covered  in  1811  near 
Bayonne.  They  are  called  pignadas,  and  according  to 
Loudon  "constitute  the  principal  riches  of  the  inhab- 
itants, where  there  was  a  drifting  desert  before."  It 
seemed  a  nobler  kind  of  grain  to  raise  than  corn  even, 

A  few  years  ago  Truro  was  remarkable  among  the 
Cape  towns  for  the  number  of  sheep  raised  in  it ;  but  I 
was  told  that  at  this  time  only  two  men  kept  sheep  in  the 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  127 

town,  and  in  1855,  a  Truro  boy  ten  years  old  told  me 
that  he  had  never  seen  one.  They  were  formerly  pas- 
tured on  the  unfenced  lands  or  general  fields,  but  now 
the  owners  were  more  particular  to  assert  their  rights, 
and  it  cost  too  much  for  fencing.  The  rails  are  cedar 
from  Maine,  and  two  rails  will  answer  for  ordinary  pur- 
poses, but  four  are  required  for  sheep.  This  was  the 
reason  assigned  by  one  who  had  formerly  kept  them  for 
not  keeping  them  any  longer.  Fencing  stuff  is  so  ex- 
pensive that  I  saw  fences  made  with  only  one  rail, 
and  very  often  the  rail  when  split  was  carefully  tied 
with  a  string.  In  one  of  the  villages  I  saw  the  next 
summer  a  cow  tethered  by  a  rope  six  rods  long,  the  rope 
long  in  proportion  as  the  feed  was  short  and  thin.  Sixty 
rods,  ay,  all  the  cables  of  the  Cape,  would  have  been  no 
more  than  fair.  Tethered  in  the  desert  for  fear  that  she 
would  get  into  Arabia  Felix  !  I  helped  a  man  weigh  a 
bundle  of  hay  which  ke  was  selling  to  his  neighbor, 
holding  one  end  of  a  pole  from  which  it  swung  by  a  steel- 
ydrd  hook,  and  this  was  just  half  his  whole  crop.  In 
short,  the  country  looked  so  barren  that  I  several  times 
refrained  from  asking  the  inhabitants  for  a  string  or  a 
piece  of  wrapping-paper,  for  fear  I  should  rob  them,  for 
they  plainly  were  obliged  to  import  these  things  as  well 
as  rails,  and  where  there  were  no  news-boys,  I  did  not 
see  what  they  would  do  for  waste  paper. 

The  objects  around  us,  the  make-shifts  of  fishermen 
ashore,  often  made  us  look  down  to  see  if  we  were  stand- 
ing on  terra  firma.  In  the  wells  everywhere  a  block 
and  tackle  were  used  to  raise  the  bucket,  instead  of  a 
windlass,  and  by  almost  every  house  was  laid  up  a  spar 
or  a  plank  or  two  full  of  auger-holes,  saved  from  a 
wreck.     The  windmills  were  partly  built  of  these,  and 


128  CAPE  COD. 

they  were  worked  into  the  public  bridges.  The  light- 
house keeper,  who  was  having  his  barn  shingled,  told  me 
casually  that  he  had  made  three  thousand  good  shingles 
for  that  purpose  out  of  a  mast.  You  would  sometimes 
see  an  old  oar  used  for  a  rail.  Frequently  also  some 
fair-weather  finery  ripped  off  a  vessel  by  a  storm  near 
the  coast  was  nailed  up  against  an  outhouse.  I  saw 
fastened  to  a  shed  near  the  light-house  a  long  new  sign 
with  the  words  "  Anglo  Saxon  "  on  it  in  large  gilt  let- 
ters, as  if  it  were  a  useless  part  which  the  ship  could 
afford  to  lose,  or  which  the  sailors  had  discharged  at  the 
same  time  with  the  pilot.  But  it  interested  somewhat 
as  if  it  had  been  a  part  of  the  Argo,  clipped  off  in  passing 
through  the  Symplegades. 

To  the  fisherman,  the  Cape  itself  is  a  sort  of  store- 
ship  laden  with  supplies,  —  a  safer  and  larger  craft  which 
carries  the  women  and  children,  the  old  men  and  the 
sick,  and  indeed  sea-phrases  are  as  common  on  it  as  on 
board  a  vessel.  Thus  is  it  ever  with  a  sea-going  people. 
The  old  Northmen  used  to  speak  of  the  "  keel-ridge  "  of 
the  country,  that  is,  the  ridge  of  the  Doffrafield  Mountains^ 
as  if  the  land  were  a  boat  turned  bottom  up.  I  was 
frequently  reminded  of  the  Northmen  here.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  Cape  are  often  at  once  farmers  and  sea- 
rovers  ;  they  are  more  than  vikings  or  kings  of  the 
bays,  for  their  sway  extends  over  the  open  sea  also.  A 
farmer  in  Wellfleet,  at  whose  house  I  afterward  spent  a 
night,  who  had  raised  fifty  bushels  of  potatoes  the  pre- 
vious year,  which  is  a  large  crop  for  the  Cape,  and  had 
extensive  salt-works,  pointed  to  his  schooner,  which  lay 
in  sight,  in  which  he  and  his  man  and  boy  occasionally 
ran  down  the  coast  a-trading  as  far  as  the  Capes  of  Vir- 
ginia.     This  was  his  market-cart,  and  his  hired  man 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  129 

knew  how  to  steer  her.      Thus   he  drove  two  teams 

a-field, 

"  ere  the  high  seas  appeared 
Under  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  morn." 

Though  probably  he  would  not  hear  much  of  the  "  gray- 
fly  "  on  his  way  to  Virginia. 

A  great  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  aro 
always  thus  abroad  about  their  teaming  on  some  ocean 
highway  or  other,  and  the  history  of  one  of  their  ordi- 
nary trips  would  cast  the  Argonautic  expedition  into  the 
shade.  I  have  just  heard  of  a  Cape  Cod  captain  who 
was  expected  home  in  the  beginning  of  the  winter  from 
the  West  Indies',  but  was  long  since  given  up  for  lost, 
till  his  relations  at  length  have  heard  with  joy,  that,  after 
getting  within  forty  miles  of  Cape  Cod  light,  he  was  driven 
back  by  nine  successive  gales  to  Key  West,  between  Flor- 
ida and  Cuba,  and  was  once  again  shaping  his  course 
for  home.  Thus  he  spent  his  winter.  In  ancient  times 
the  adventures  of  these  two  or  three  men  and  boys  would 
have  been  made  the  basis  of  a  myth,  but  now  such  tales 
are  crowded  into  a  line  of  short-hand  signs,  like  an  alge- 
braic formula  in  the  shipping  news.  "  Wherever  over 
the  world,"  said  Palfrey  in  his  oration  at  Barnstable, 
"you  see  the  stars  and  stripes  floating,  you  may  have 
good  hope  that  beneath  them  some  one  will  be  found 
who  can  tell  you  the  soundings  of  Barnstable,  or  Well- 
fleet,  or  Chatham  Harbor." 

I  passed  by  the  home  of  somebody's  (or  everybody's) 
Uncle  Bill,  one  day  over  on  the  Plymouth  shore.  It 
was  a  schooner  half  keeled-up  on  the  mud :  we  aroused 
the  master  out  of  a  sound  sleep  at  noonday,  by  thump- 
ing on  the  bottom  of  his  vessel  till  he  presented  himself 
at  the  hatch-way,  for  we  wanted  to  borrow  his  clam-dig- 
6*  1 


130  CAPE  COD. 

ger.  Meaning  to  make  him  a  call,  I  looked  out  the  next 
morning,  and  lo !  he  had  run  over  to  "  the  Pines  "  the 
evening  before,  fearing  an  easterly  storm.  He  outrode 
the  great  gale  in  the  spring  of  1851,  dashing  about  alone 
in  Plymouth  Bay.  He  goes  after  rockweed,  lighters 
vessels,  and  saves  wrecks.  I  still  saw  him  lying  in  the 
mud  over  at  "the  Pines"  in  the  horizon,  which  place  he 
could  not  leave  if  he  would,  till  flood  tide.  But  he 
would  not  then  probably.  This  waiting  for  the  tide  is  a 
singular  feature  in  life  by  the  sea-shore.  A  frequent 
answer  is,  "  Well !  you  can't  start  for  two  hours  yet."  It 
is  something  new  to  a  landsman,  and  at  first  he  is  not 
disposed  to  wait.  History  says  that  "  two  inhabitants 
of  Truro  were  the  first  who  adventured  to  the  Falkland 
Isles  in  pursuit  of  whales.  This  voyage  was  undertaken 
in  the  year  1774,  by  the  advice  of  Admiral  Montague 
of  the  British  navy,  and  was  crowned  with  success." 

At  the  Pond  Village  we  saw  a  pond  three  eighths  of 
a  mile  long  densely  filled  with  cat-tail  flags,  seven  feet 
high,  —  enough  for  all  the  coopers  in  New  England. 

The  western  shore  was  nearly  as  sandy  as  the  eastern, 
but  the  water  was  much  smoother,  and  the  bottom  was 
partially  covered  with  the  slender  grass-like  sea-weed 
{Zosterd),  which  we  had  not  seen  on  the  Atlantic  side  ; 
there  were  also  a  few  rude  sheds  for  trying  fish  on  the 
beach  there,  which  made  it  appear  less  wild.  In  the  few 
marshes  on  this  side  we  afterward  saw  Samphire,  Rose- 
mary, and  other  plants  new  to  us  inlanders. 

In  the  summer  and  fall  sometimes,  hundreds  of  black- 
fish  (the  Social  Whale,  GloUcephalus  melas  of  De  Kay  ; 
called  also  Black  Whale-fish,  Howling  Whale,  Bottle- 
head,  &c.),  fifteen  feet  or  more  in  length,  are  driven 
ashore  in  a  single  school  here.     I  witnessed  such  a  scene 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  131 

in  July,  1855.  A  carpenter  who  was  working  at  the 
light-house  arriving  early  in  the  morning  remarked  that 
he  did  not  know  but  he  had  lost  fifty  dollars  by  coming 
to  his  work  ;  for  as  he  came  along  the  Bay  side  he  heard 
them  driving  a  school  of  blackfish  ashore,  and  he  had 
debated  with  himself  whether  he  should  not  go  and  join 
them  and  take  his  share,  but  had  concluded  to  come  to 
his  work.  After  breakfast  I  came  over  to  this  place, 
about  two  miles  distant,  and  near  the  beach  met  some  of 
the  fishermen  returning  from  their  chase.  Looking  up 
and  down  the  shore,  I  could  see  about  a  mile  south  some 
large  black  masses  on  the  sand,  which  I  knew  must  be 
blackfish,  and  a  man  or  two  about  them.  As  I  walked 
along  towards  them  I  soon  came  to  a  huge  carcass  whose 
head  was  gone  and  whose  blubber  had  been  stripped  off 
some  weeks  before ;  the  tide  was  just  beginning  to  move 
it,  and  the  stench  compelled  me  to  go  a  long  way 
round.  When  I  came  to  Great  Hollow  I  found  a  fish- 
erman and  some  boys  on  the  watch,  and  counted  about 
thirty  blackfish,  just  killed,  with  many  lance  wounds,  and 
the  water  was  more  or  less  bloody  around.  They  were 
partly  on  shore  and  partly  in  the  water,  held  by  a  rope 
round  their  tails  till  the  tide  should  leave  them.  A  boat 
had  been  somewhat  stove  by  the  tail  of  one.  They  were 
a  smooth  shining  black,  like  India-rubber,  and  bad 
remarkably  simple  and  lumpish  forms  for  animated 
creatures,  with  a  blunt  round  snout  or  head,  whale-like, 
and  simple  stiff-looking  flippers.  The  largest  were  about 
fifteen  feet  long,  but  one  or  two  were  only  five  feet 
long,  and  still  without  teeth.  The  fisherman  sUshed 
one  with  his  jackknife,  to  show  me  how  thick  the  blubber 
was,  —  about  three  inches ;  and  as  I  passed  my  finger 
through  the  cut  it  was  covered  thick  with  oil.     The 


132  CAPE  COD. 

blubber  looked  like  pork,  and  this  man  said  that  when' 
they  were  trying  it  the  boys  would  sometimes  come 
round  with  a  piece  of  bread  in  one  hand,  and  take  a 
piece  of  blubber  in  the  other  to  eat  with  it,  preferring  it 
to  pork  scraps.  He  also  cut  into  the  flesh  beneath, 
which  was  firm  and  red  hke  beef,  and  he  said  that  for 
his  part  he  preferred  it  when  fresh  to  beef.  It  is  stated 
that  in  1812  blackfish  were  used  as  food  by  the  poor  of 
Bretagne.  They  were  waiting  for  the  tide  to  leave  these 
fishes  high  and  dry,  that  they  might  strip  off  the  blubber 
and  carry  it  to  their  try-works  in  their  boats,  where  they 
try  it  on  the  beach.  They  get  commonly  a  barrel  of 
oil,  worth  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars,  to  a  fish.  There 
were  many  lances  and  harpoons  in  the  boats, — much 
slenderer  instruments  than  I  had  expected.  An  old  man 
came  along  the  beach  with  a  horse  and  wagon  distribut- 
ing the  dinners  of  the  fishermen,  which  their  wives  had 
put  up  in  little  pails  and  jugs,  and  which  he  had  collected 
in  the  Pond  Village,  and  for  this  service,  I  suppose,  he 
received  a  share  of  the  oil.  If  one  could  not  tell  his 
own  pail,  he  took  the  first  he  came  to. 

As  I  stood  there  they  raised  the  cry  of  *' another 
school,"  and  we  could  see  their  black  backs  and  their 
blowing  about  a  mile  northward,  as  they  went  leaping 
over  the  sea  like  horses.  Some  boats  were  already  in 
pursuit  there,  driving  them  toward  the  beach.  Other 
fishermen  and  boys  running  up  began  to  jump  into  the 
boats  and  push  them  off  from  where  I  stood,  and  I  might 
have  gone  too  had  I  chosen.  Soon  there  were  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  boats  in  pursuit,  some  large  ones  under 
sail,  and  others  rowing  with  might  and  main,  keeping 
outside  of  the  school,  those  nearest  to  the  fishes  striking 
on  the  sides  of  their  boats  and  blowing  horns  to  drive 


ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  133 

them  on  to  the  beach.  It  was  an  exciting  race.  If  they 
succeed  in  driving  them  ashore  each  boat  takes  one  share, 
and  then  each  man,  but  if  they  are  compelled  to  strike 
them  off  shore  each  boat's  company  take  what  they  strike. 
I  walked  rapidly  along  the  shore  toward  the  north,  while 
the  fishermen  were  rowing  still  more  swiftly  to  join  their 
companions,  and  a  little  boy  who  walked  by  my  side  was 
congratulating  himself  that  his  father's  boat  was  beating 
another  one.  An  old  blind  fisherman  whom  we  met, 
inquired,  "  Where  are  they,  I  can't  see.  Have  they  got 
them  ?  "  In  the  mean  while  the  fishes  had  turned  and 
were  escaping  northward  toward  Provincetown,  only 
occasionally  the  back  of  one  being  seen.  So  the  nearest 
crews  were  compelled  to  strike  them,  and  we  saw  several 
boats  soon  made  fast,  each  to  its  fish,  which,  four  or  five 
rods  ahead  was  drawing  it  like  a  race-horse  straight 
toward  the  beach,  leaping  half  out  of  water  blowing  blood 
and  water  from  its  hole,  and  leaving  a  streak  of  foam 
behind.  But  they  went  ashore  too  far  north  for  us, 
though  we  could  see  the  fishermen  leap  out  and  lance 
them  on  the  sand.  It  was  just  like  pictures  of  whaling 
which  I  have  seen,  and  a  fisherman  told  me  that  it  was 
nearly  as  dangerous.  In  his  first  trial  he  had  been  much 
excited,  and  in  his  haste  had  used  a  lance  with  its  scab- 
bard on,  but  nevertheless  had  thrust  it  quite  through  his 
fish. 

I  learned  that  a  few  days  before  this  one  hundred  and 
eighty  blackfish  had  been  driven  ashore  in  one  school 
at  Eastham,  a  little  farther  south,  and  that  the  keeper  of 
BiUingsgate  Point  light  went  out  one  moniing  about  the 
same  time  and  cut  his  initials  on  the  backs  of  a  large 
school  which  had  run  ashore  in  the  night,  and  sold  his 
right  to  them  to  Provincetown  for  one  thousand  dollars, 


134  CAPE  COD. 

and  probably  Provineetown  made  as  much  more.  An- 
other fisherman  told  me  that  nineteen  years  ago  three 
hundred  and  eighty  were  driven  ashore  in  one  school  at 
Great  Hollow.  In  the  Naturalists'  Library,  it  is  said 
that,  in  the  winter  of  1809  -  10,  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  ten  "  approached  the  shore  of  Hralfiord,  Iceland,  and 
were  captured."  De  Kay  says  it  is  not  known  why 
they  are  stranded.  But  one  fisherman  declared  to  me 
that  they  ran  ashore  in  pursuit  of  squid,  and  that  they 
generally  came  on  the  coast  about  the  last  of  July. 

About  a  week  afterward,  when  I  came  to  this  shore, 
it  was  strewn  as  far  as  I  could  see  with  a  glass,  with 
the  carcasses  of  blackfish  stripped  of  their  blubber  and 
their  heads  cut  off;  the  latter  lying  higher  up.  Walk- 
ing on  the  beach  was  out  of  the  question  on  account  of 
the  stench.  Between  Provineetown  and  Truro  they  lay 
in  the  very  path  of  the  stage.  Yet  no  steps  were  taken 
to  abate  the  nuisance,  and  men  were  catching  lobsters 
as  usual  just  off  the  shore.  I  was  told  that  they  did 
sometimes  tow  them  out  and  sink  them  ;  yet  I  wondered 
where  they  got  the  stones  to  sink  them  with.  Of  course 
they  might  be  made  into  guano,  and  Cape  Cod  is  not  so 
fertile  that  her  inhabitants  can  afford  to  do  without  this 
manure,  — *  to  say  nothing  of  the  diseases  they  may  pro- 
duce. 

After  my  return  home,  wishing  to  learn  what  was 
known  about  the  Blackfish,  I  had  recourse  to  the  re- 
ports of  the  zoological  surveys  of  the  State,  and  I  found 
that  Storer  had  rightfully  omitted  it  in  his  Report  on  the 
Fishes,  since  it  is  not  a  fish ;  so  I  turned  to  Emmons's 
Report  of  the  Mammalia,  but  was  surprised  to  find  that 
the  seals  and  whales  were  omitted  by  him,  because  he 
had  had  ho  opportunity  to  observe  them.     Considering 


.ACROSS  THE  CAPE.  185 

how  this  State  has  risen  and  thriven  by  its  fisheries,  — 
that  the  legislature  which  authorized  the  Zoological  Sur- 
vey sat  under  the  emblem  of  a  codfish,  —  that  Nan- 
tucket and  New  Bedford  are  within  our  limits,  —  that 
an  early  riser  may  find  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  blackfish  on  the  shore  in  a  morning,  — 
that  the  Pilgrims  saw  the  Indians  cutting  up  a  blackfish 
on  the  shore  at  Eastham,  and  called  a  part  of  that  shore 
"  Grampus  Bay,"  from  the  number  of  blackfish  they 
found  there,  before  they  got  to  Plymouth,  —  and  that 
from  that  time  to  this  these  fishes  have  continued  to 
enrich  one  or  two  counties  almost  annually,  and  that 
their  decaying  carcasses  were  now  poisoning  the  air  of 
one  county  for  more  than  thirty  miles,  —  I  thought  it 
remarkable  that  neither  the  popular  nor  scientific  name 
was  to  be  found  in  a  report  on  our  mammalia,  — a  cata- 
loffue  of  the  productions  of  our  land  and  water. 

We  had  here,  as  ^ell  as  all  across  the  Cape,  a  fair 
view  of  Provincetown,  five  or  six  miles  distant  over  the 
water  toward  the  west,  under  its  shrubby  sand-hills,  with 
its  harbor  now  full  of  vessels  whose  masts  mingled  with 
the  spires  of  its  churches,  and  gave  it  the  appearance 
of  a  quite  large  seaport  town. 

The  inhabitants  of  all  the  lower  Cape  towns  enjoy 
thus  the  prospect  of  two  seas.  Standing  on  the  western 
or  larboard  shore,  and  looking  across  to  where  the  dis- 
tant mainland  looms,  they  can  say.  This  is  Massachu- 
setts Bay  ;  and  then,  after  an  hour's  sauntering  walk, 
they  may  stand  on  the  starboard  side,  beyond  which 
no  land  is  seen  to  loom,  and  say.  This  is  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  light-house,  by  whose  white- 
washed tower  we  steered  as  securely  as  the  mariner  by 


136  CAPE  COD. 

its  light  at  night,  we  passed  through  a  graveyard,  which 
apparently  was  saved  from  being  blown  away  by  its 
slates,  for  they  had  enabled  a  thick  bed  of  huckleberry- 
bushes  to  root  themselves  amid  the  graves.  We  thouerht 
it  would  be  worth  the  while  to  read  the  epitaphs  where 
so  many  were  lost  at  sea ;  however,  as  not  only  their 
lives,  but  commonly  their  bodies  also,  were  lost  or  not 
identified,  there  were  fewer  epitaphs  of  this  sort  than  we 
expected,  though  there  were  not  a  few.  Their  grave- 
yard is  the  ocean.  Near  the  eastern  side  we  started  up 
a  fox  in  a  hollow,  the  only  kind  of  wild  quadruped,  if 
I  except  a  skunk  in  a  salt-marsh,  that  we  saw  in  all 
our  walk  (unless  painted  and  box  tortoises  may  be 
called  quadrupeds).  He  was  a  large,  plump,  shaggy 
fellow,  like  a  yellow  dog,  with,  as  usual,  a  white  tip 
to  his  tail,  and  looked  as  if  he  fared  well  on  the  Cape. 
He  cantered  away  into  the  shrub-oaks  and  bayberry- 
bushes  which  chanced  to  grow  there,  but  were  hardly 
high  enough  to  conceal  him.  I  saw  another  the  next 
summer  leaping  over  the  top  of  a  beach-plum  a  little 
farther  north,  a  small  arc  of  his  course  (which.  I  trust 
is  not  yet  run),  from  which  I  endeavored  in  vain  to  cal- 
culate his  whole  orbit :  there  were  too  many  unknown 
attractions  to  be  allowed  for.  I  also  saw  the  exuvije 
of  a  third  fast  sinking  into  the  sand,  and  added  the  skull 
to  my  collection.  Hence  I  concluded  that  they  must  be 
plenty  thereabouts ;  but  a  traveller  may  meet  with  more 
than  an  inhabitant,  since  he  is  more  likely  to  take  an 
unfrequented  route  across  the  country.  They  told  me 
that  in  some  years  they  died  off  in  great  numbers  by  a 
kind  of  madness,  under  the  effect  of  which  they  were 
seen  whirling  round  and  round  as  if  in  pursuit  of  their 
tails.    Li  Crantz*s  account  of  Greenland,  he  says :  "  They 


ACKOSS  THE   CAPE.  137 

(the  foxes)  live  upon  birds  and  their  eggs,  and,  when 
they  can't  get  them,  upon  crow-berries,  mussek,  crabs, 
and  what  the  sva.  casts  out." 

Just  before  reaching  the  light-house,  we  saw  the  sun 
set  in  the  Bay,  —  for  standing  on  that  narrow  Cape  was, 
as  I  have  said,  like  being  on  the  deck  of  a  vessel,  or 
rather  at  the  masthead  of  a  man-of-war,  thirty  miles  at 
sea,  though  we  knew  that  at  the  same  moment  the  sun 
was  setting  behind  our  native  hills,  which  were  just 
below  the  horizon  in  that  direction.  This  sight  drove 
everything  else  quite  out  of  our  heads,  and  Homer  and 
the  Ocean  came  in  again  with  a  rush,  — 

*Ev  y  in«r  *G/ceai/o)  \afinp6v  <f>dos  ^eXt'oto, 

the  shining  torch  of  the  sun  fell  into  the  oceaoil 


VIII. 
THE    HIGHLAND    LIGHT. 


This  light-house,  known  to  mariners  as  the  Cape  Cod 
or  Highland  Light,  is  one  of  our  "primary  sea-coast 
lights,"  and  is  usually  the  first  seen  by  those  approach- 
ing the  entrance  of  Massachuse'tts  Bay  from  Europe. 
It  is  forty-three  miles  from  Cape  Ann  Light,  and  forty- 
one  from  Boston  Light.  It  stands  about  twenty  rods 
from  the  edge  of  the  bank,  which  is  here  formed  of  clay. 
I  borrowed  the  plane  and  square,  level  and  dividers, 
of  a  carpenter  who  was  shingHng  a  barn  near  by,  and 
using  one  of  those  shingles  made  of  a  mast,  contrived  a 
rude  sort  of  quadrant,  with  pins  for  sights  and  pivots, 
and  got  the  angle  of  elevation  of  the  Bank  opposite  the 
light-house,  and  with  a  couple  of  cod-lines  the  length  of 
its  slope,  and  so  measured  its  height  on  the  shingle.  It 
rises  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  above  its  immediate  base, 
or  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  feet  above  mean 
low  water.  Graham,  who  has  carefully  surveyed  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Cape,  makes  it  one  hundred  and  thirty 
feet.  The  mixed  sand  and  clay  lay  at  an  angle  of  forty 
degrees  Tsnth  the  horizon,  where  I  measured  it,  but  the 
clay  is  generally  much  steeper.  No  cow  nor  hen  ever 
gets  down  it.  Half  a  mile  farther  south  tfie  bank  is 
fifteen  or  twenty -five  feet  higher,  and  that  appeared  to 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  139 

« 
be  the  highest  land  in  North  Truro.     Even  this  vast 

clay  bank  is  fast  wearing  away.     Small  streams  of  water 

trickling  down  it  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  rods,  have 

left  the  intermediate  clay  in  the  form  of  steep  Gothic 

roofs  fifty  feet  high  or  more,  the  ridges  as  sharp  and 

rugged-looking  as  rocks ;  and  in  one  place  the  bank  is 

curiously  eaten  oiit  in  the  form  of  a  large  semicircular 

crater. 

According  to  the  light-house  keeper,  the  Cape  is  wast- 
ing here  on  both  sides,  though  most  on  the  eastern.  In 
some  places  it  had  lost  many  rods  within  the  last  year, 
and,  erelong,  the  light-house  must  be  moved.  We  cal- 
culated, from  his  data,  how  soon  the  Cape  would  be 
quite  worn  away  at  this  point,  "  for,"  said  he,  "  I  can 
remember  sixty  years  back."  We  were  even  more  sur- 
prised at  this  last  announcement,  —  that  is,  at  the  slow 
waste  of  life  and  energy  in  our  informant,  for  we  had 
taken  him  to  be  not  more  than  forty, —  than  at  the  rapid 
wasting  of  the  Cape,  and  we  thought  that  he  stood  a  fair 
chance  to  outlive  the  former. 

Between  this  October  and  June  of  the  next  year,  I 
found  that  the  bank  had  lost  about  forty  feet  in  one 
place,  opposite  the  light-house,  and  it  was  cracked  more 
than  forty  feet  farther  from  the  edge  at  the  last  date,  the 
shore  being  strewn  with  the  recent  rubbish.  But  I 
judged  that  generally  it  was  not  wearing  away  here  at 
the  rate  of  more  than  six  feet  annually.  Any  conclu- 
sions drawn  from  the  observations  of  a  few  years  or  one 
generation  only  are  likely  to  prove  false,  and  the  Cape 
may  balk -expectation  by  its  durability.  In  some  places 
even  a  wrecker's  foot-path  down  the  bank  lasts  several 
years.  One  old  inhabitant  told  us  that  when  the  light- 
house was  built,  in  1798,  it  was  calculated  that  it  would 


140  CAPE  COD. 

» 
stand  forty-five  years,  allowing  the  bank  to  waste  one 

length  of  fence  each  year,  "  but,"  said  he,  "  there  it  is  " 

(or  rather  another  near  the  same  site,  about  twenty  rods 

from  the  edge  of  the  bank). 

The  sea  is  not  gaining  on  the  Cape  everywhere,  for 
one  man  told  me  of  a  vessel  wrecked  long  ago  on  the 
north  of  Provincetown  whose  ^^ bones"  (this  was  his 
word)  are  still  visible  many  rods  within  the  present  hne 
of  the  beach,  half  buried  in  sand.  Perchance  they  lie 
alongside  the  timbers  of  a  whale.  The  general  state- 
ment of  the  inhabitants  is,  that  the  Cape  is  wasting  on 
both  sides,  but  extending  itself  on  particular  points 
on  the  south  and  west,  as  at  Chatham  and  Monomoy 
Beaches,  and  at  Billingsgate,  Long,  and  Race  Points. 
Jaimes  Freeman  stated  in  his  day  that  above  three  miles 
had  been  added  to  Monomoy  Beach  during  the  previous 
fifty ^ears,  and  it  is  said  to  be  still  extending  as  fast  as 
ever.  A  writer  in  the  Massachusetts  Magazine,  in  the 
last  century,  tells  us  that  "  when  the  English  first  settled 
upon  the  Cape,  there  was  an  island  off  Chatham,  at  three 
leagues'  distance,  called  Webbs'  Island,  containing  twenty 
acres,  covered  with  red-cedar  or  savin.  The  inhabitants 
of  Nantucket  used  to  carry  wood  from  it " ;  but  he  adds 
that  in  his  day  a  large  rock  alone  marked  the  spot,  and 
the  water  was  six  fathoms  deep  there.  The  entrance  to 
Nauset  Harbor,  which  was  once  in  Eastham,  has  now 
travelled  south  into  Orleans.  The  islands  in  Wellfleet 
Harbor  once  formed  a  continuous  beach,  though  now 
small  vessels  pass  between  them..  And  so  of  many 
other  parts  of  this  coast. 

Perhaps  what  the  Ocean  takes  from  one  part  of  the 
Cape  it  gives  to  another,  —  robs  Peter  to  pay  Paul. 
On  the  eastern  side  the  sea  appears  to  be  everywhere 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  141 

encroaching  on  the  land.  Not  only  the  land  is  under- 
mined, and  its  ruins  carried  off  by  currents,  but  the 
sand  is  blown  from  the  beach  directly  up  the  steep  bank 
where  it  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  covers 
the  original  surface  there  many  feet  deep.  If  you  sit  on 
the  edge  you  will  have  ocular  demonstration  of  this  by 
soon  getting  your  eyes  full.  Thus  the  bank  preserves 
its  height  as  fast  as  it  is  worn  away.  This  sand  is 
steadily  travelling  westward  at  a  rapid  rate,  "  more  than 
a  hundred  yards,"  says  one  writer,  within  the  memory 
of  inhabitants  now  living ;  so  that  in  some  places  peat- 
meadows  are  buried  deep  under  the  sand,  and  the  peat 
is  cut  through  it ;  and  in  one  place  a  large  peat-meadow 
has  made  its  appearance  on  the  shore  in  the  bank  cov- 
ered many  feet  deep,  and  peat  has  been  cut  there.  T^is 
accounts  for  that  great  pebble  of  peat  which  we  saw  in 
the  surf  The  old  oysterman  had  told  us  that  many 
years  ago  he  lost  a  "  crittur  "  by  her  being  mired  in  a 
swamp  near  the  Atlantic  side  east  of  his  house,  and 
twenty  years  ago  he  lost  the  swamp  itself  entirely,  but 
has  since  seen  signs  of  it  appearing  on  the  beach.  He 
also  said  that  he  had  seen  cedar  stumps  "  as  big  as  cart- 
wheels" (!)  on  the  bottom  of  the  Bay,  three  miles  olF 
Billingsgate  Point,  when  leaning  over  Jhe  side  of  his 
boat  in  pleasant  weather,  and  that  that  was  dry  land  not 
long  ago.  Another  told  us  that  a  log  canoe  known  to 
have  been  buried  many  years  before  on  the  Bay  side  at 
East  Harbor  in  Truro,  where  the  Cape  is  extremely  nar- 
row, appeared  at  length  on  the  Atlantic  side,  the  Cape 
having  rolled  over  it,  and  an  old  woman  said,  —  "  Now, 
you  see,  it  is  true  what  I  told  you,  that  the  Cape  is 
moving." 

The  bars  along  the  coast  shift  with  every  storm,  and 


142  CAPE  COD. 

in  many  places  there  is  occasionally  none  at  all.  We 
ourselves  observed  the  eflfect  of  a  single  storm  with  a 
high  tide  in  the  night,  in  July,  1855.  It  moved  the  sand 
on  the  beach  opposite  the  light-house  to  the  depth  of 
six  feet,  and  three  rods  in  width  as  far  as  we  could  see 
north  and  south,  and  carried  it  bodily  off  no  one  knows 
exactly  where,  laying  bare  in  one  place  a  large  rock 
five  feet  high  which  was  invisible  before,  and  narrow- 
ing the  beach  to  that  extent.  There  is  usually,  as  I 
have  said,  no  bathing  on  the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  on 
account  of  the  undertow,  but  when  we  were  there  last, 
the  sea  had,  three  months  before,  cast  up  a  bar  near  this 
light-house,  two  miles  long  and  ten  rods  wide,  over  which 
the  tide  did  not  flow,  leaving  a  narrow  cove,  then  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  long,  between  it  and  the  shore,  which 
afforded  excellent  bathing.  This  cove  had  from  time  to 
time  been  closed  up  as  the  bar  travelled  northward,  in 
one  instance  imprisoning  four  or  five  hundred  whiting 
and  cod,  which  died  there,  and  the  water  as  often  turned 
fresh  and  finally  gave  place  to  sand.  This  bar,  the  in- 
habitants assured  us,  might  be  wholly  removed,  and  the 
water  six  feet  deep  there  in  two  or  three  days. 

The  light-house  keeper  said  that  when  the  wind  blowed 
strong  on  to  the  shore,  the  waves  ate  fast  into  the  bank, 
but  when  it  blowed  off  they  took  no  sand  away ;  for  in 
the  former  case  the  wind  heaped  up  the  surface  of  the 
water  next  to  the  beach,  and  to  preserve  its  equiUbrium 
a  strong  undertow  immediately  set  back  again  into  the 
sea  which  carried  with  it  the  sand  and  whatever  else  was 
in  the  way,  and  left  the  beach  hard  to  walk  on  ;  but  in 
the  latter  case  the  undertow  set  on,  and  carried,  the  sand 
with  it,  so  that  it  was  particularly  difiicult  for  shipwrecked 
men  to  get  to  land  when  the  wind  blowed  on  to  the  shore, 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  143 

but  easier  when  it  blowed  off.  This  undertow,  meeting 
the  next  surface  wave  on  the  bar  which  itself  has  made, 
forms  part  of  the  dam  over  which  the  latter  breaks,  as 
over  an  upright  wall.  The  sea  thus  plays  with  the  land 
holding  a  sand-bar  in  its  mouth  awhile  before  it  swallows 
it,  as  a  cat  plays  with  a  mouse  ;  but  the  fatal  gripe  is 
sure  to  come  at  last.  The  sea  sends  its  rapacious  east 
wind  to  rob  the  land,  but  before  the  former  has  got  far 
with  its  prey,  the  land  sends  its  honest  west  wind  to  re- 
cover some  of  its  own.  But,  according  to  Lieutenant 
Davis,  the  forms,  extent,  and  distribution  of  sand-bars 
and  banks  are  principally  determined,  not  by  winds  and 
waves,  but  by  tides. 

Our  host  said  that  you  would  be  surprised  if  you  were 
on  the  beach  when  the  wind  blew  a  hurricane  directly 
on  to  it,  to  see  that  none  of  the  drift-wood  came  ashore, 
but  all  was  carried  directly  northward  and  parallel  with 
the  shore  as  fast  as  a  man  can  walk,  by  the  inshore  cur- 
rent, which  sets  strongly  in  that  direction  at  flood  tide. 
The  strongest  swimmers  also  are  carried  along  with  it, 
and  never  gain  an  inch  toward  the  beach.  Even  a  large 
rock  has  been  moved  half  a  mile  northward  along  the 
beach.  He  assured  us  that  the  sea  was  never  still  on 
the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  but  ran  commonly  as  high  as 
your  head,  so  that  a  great  part  of  the  time  you  could 
not  launch  a  boat  there,  and  even  in  the  calmest  weather 
thp  waves  run  six  or  eight  feet  up  the  beach,  though 
then  you  could  get  off  on  a  plank.  Champlain  and 
Pourtrincourt  could  not  land  here  in  1606,  on  account  of 
the  swell  {la  houUe)^  yet  the  savages  came  off  to  them 
in  a  canoe.  In  the  Sieur  de  la  Horde's  ''  Relation  des 
Caraibes,"  my  edition  of  which  was  published  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1711,  at  page  530  he  says:  — 


144  CAPE  COD. 

"Couroumon  a  Caraibe,  also  a  star  [i.  e.  a  god], 
makes  the  great  lames  a  la  mer,  and  overturns  canoes. 
Lames  a  la  mer  are  the  long  vagues  which  are  not 
broken  {entrecoupees),  and  such  as  one  sees  come  to  land 
all  in  one  piece,  from  one  end  of  a  beach  to  another, 
so  that,  however  little  wind  there  may  be,  a  shallop  or 
a  canoe  could  hardly  land  (aborder  terre)  without  turn- 
ing over,  or  being  iSlled  with  water." 

But  on  the  Bay  side  the  water  even  at  its  edge 
is  often  as  smooth  and  still  as  in  a  pond.  Commonly 
there  are  no  boats  used  along  this  beach.  There  was 
a  boat  belonging  to  the  Highland  Light  which  the 
next  keeper  after  he  had  been  there  a  year  had  not 
launched,  though  he  said  that  there  was  good  fishing  just 
oflf  the  shore.  Generally  the  Life  Boats  cannot  be  used 
when  needed.  When  the  waves  run  very  high  it  is  im- 
possible to  get  a  boat  off,  however  skilfully  you  steer  it, 
for  it  will  often  be  completely  covered  by  the  curving 
edge  of  the  approaching  breaker  as  by  an  arch,  and  so 
filled  with  water,  or  it  will  be  lifted  up  by  its  bows,  turned 
directly  over  backwards  and  all  the  contents  spilled  out. 
A  spar  thirty  feet  long  is  served  in  the  same  way. 

I  heard  of  a  party  who  went  off  fishing  back  of  Well- 
fleet  some  years  ago,  in  two  boats,  in  calm  weather, 
who,  when  they  had  laden  their  boats  with  fish,  and 
approached  the  land  again,  found  such  a  swell  break- 
ing on  it,  though  there  was  no  wind,  that  they  were 
afraid  to  enter  it.  At  first  they  thought  to  pull  for 
Provincetown,  but  night  was  coming  on,  and  that  was 
many  miles  distant.  Their  case  seemed  a  desperate 
one.  As  often  as  they  approached  the  shore  and  saw 
the  terrible  breakers  that  intervened,  they  were  deterred. 
In  short,  they  were  thoroughly  frightened.    Finally,  hav- 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  145 

ing  thrown  their  fish  overboard,  those  in  one  boat  chose 
a  favorable  opportunity,  and  succeeded,  by  skill  and 
good  luck,  in  reaching  the  land,  but  they  were  unwill- 
ing to  take  the  responsibility  of  telling  the  others  when 
to  come  in,  and  as  the  other  helmsman  was  inexperi- 
enced, their  boat  was  swamped  at  once,  yet  all  man- 
aged to  save  themselves. 

Much  smaller  waves  soon  make  a  boat  "  nail-sick,"  as 
the  phrase  is.  The  keeper  said  that  after  a  long  and 
strong  blow  there  would  be  three  large  waves,  each  suc- 
cessively larger  than  the  last,  and  then  no  large  ones  for 
some  time,  and  that,  when  they  wished  to  land  in  a 
boat,  they  came  in  on  the  last  and  largest  wave.  Sir 
Thomas  Browne  (as  quoted  in  Brand's  Popular  Antiq- 
uities, p.  372),  on  the  subject  of  the  tenth  wave  being 
"  greater  or  more  dangerous  than  any  other,**  after  quot- 
ing Ovid, — 

'*  Qui  venit  hie  fluctus,  fluotiis  supereminet  omnes 
Posterior  none  est,  oudecimo  que  prior,"  — 

says,  "Which,  notwithstanding,  is  evidently  false;  nor 
can  it  be  made  out  either  by  observation  either  upon  the 
shore  or  the  ocean,  as  we  h&ve  with  diligence  explored 
in  both.  And  surely  in  vain  we  expect  regularity  in  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  or  in  the  particular  motions  thereof,  as 
we  may  in  its  general  reciprocations,  whose  causes  are 
constant,  and  effects  therefore  correspondent;  whereas 
its  fluctuations  are  but  motions  subservient,  which  winds, 
storms,  shores,  shelves,  and  every  interjacency,  irreg- 
ulates."  " 

We  read  that  the  Clay  Pounds  were  so  called,  "  be- 
cause vessels  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be  pounded 
against  it  in  gales  of  wind,"  which  y^T  regard  as  a  doubt- 
7  J 


l^  CAPE  COD. 

ful  derivation.  There  are  small  ponds  here,  upheld  by 
the  clay,  which  Were  formerly  called  the  Clay  Pits. 
Perhaps  this,  or  Clay  Ponds,  is  the  origin  of  the  name. 
"Water  is  found  in  the  clay  quite  near  the  surface ;  but 
we  heard  of  one  man  who  had  sunk  a  well  in  the  sand 
close  by,  "till  he  could  see  stars  at  noonday,"  without 
finding  any.  Over  this  bare  Highland  the  wind  has  full 
sweep.  Even  in  July  it  blows  the  wings  over  the  heads 
of  the  young  turkeys,  which  do  not  know  enough  to 
head  against  it ;  and  in  gales  the  doors  and  windows  are 
blown  in,  and  you  must  hold  on  to  the  light-house  to  pre- 
vent being  blown  into  the  Atlantic.  They  who  merely 
keep  out  on  the  beach  in  a  storm  in  the  winter  are  some- 
times rewarded  by  the  Humane  Society.  K  you  would 
feel  the  full  force  of  a  tempest,  take  up  your  residence 
on  the  top  of  Mount  Washington,  or  at  the  Highland 
Light,  in  Truro. 

It  was  said  in  1794  that  mpore  vessels  Were  cast  away 
on  the  east  shore  of  Truro  than  anywhere  in  Barnstable 
County.  Notwithstanding  that  this  light-house  has  since 
been  erected,  after  almost  every  storm  we  read  of  one  or 
more  vessels  wrecked  here,  and  sometimes  more  than  a 
dozen  wrecks  are  visible  from  this  point  at  one  time. 
The  inhabitants  hear  the  crash  of  vessels  going  to  pieces 
as  they  sit  round  th^ir  hearths,  and  they  commonly 
date  from  some  memorable  sh-ipwreck.  If  the  history 
of  this  beach  could  be  written  from  beginning  to  end, 
it  would  be  a  thrilling  page  in  the  history  of  com- 
merce. 

Truro  was  settled  in  the  year  1700  as  Danyerjield. 
This  was  a  very  appropriate  name,  for  I  afterward  read 
on  a  monument  in  the  graveyard,  near  Pamet  River,  the 
following  inscription :  — 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  147 

Sacred 

to  the  memory  of 

57  citizens  of  Truro, 

who  were  lost  in  seven 

vessels,  which 

•    foundered  at  sea  in 

the  memorable  gale 

of  Oct.  3d,  1841. 

Their  names  and  ages  by  families  were  recorded  on  dif- 
ferent sides  of  the  stone.  They  are  said  to  have  been 
lost  on  George's  Bank,  and  I  was  told  that  only  one  ves- 
sel drifted  ashore  on  the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  with  the 
boys  locked  into  the  cabin  and  drowned.  It  is  said  that 
the  homes  of  all  were  "  within  a  circuit  of  two  miles." 
Twenty-eight  inhabitants  of  Dennis  were  lost  in  the 
same  gale ;  and  I  read  that  "  in  one  day,  immediately 
after  this  storm,  nearly  or  quite  one  hundred  bodies 
were  taken  up  and  buried  on  Cape  Cod."  The  Truro 
Insurance  Company  failed  for  want  of  skippers  to  take 
charge  of  its  vessels.  But  the  surviving  inhabitants 
went  a  fishing  again  the  next  year  as  usual.  I  fooitd 
that  it  would  not  do  to  speak  of  shipwrecks  there,  for 
almost  every  family  has  lost  some  of  its  members  at 
sea.  "  Who  lives  in  that  house  ?  "  I  inquired.  "  Three 
widows,"  was  the  reply.  The  stranger  and  the  inhab- 
itant view  the  shore  with  very  different  eyes.  The 
former  may  have  come  to  see  and  admire  the  ocean  in 
a  storm ;  but  the  latter  looks  on  it  as  the  scene  where  his 
nearest  relatives  were  wrecked.  When  I  remarked  to 
an  old  WTecker  partially  blind,  who  was  sitting  on  the 
edge  of  the  bank  smoking  a  pipe,  which  he  had  just  lit 
with  a  match  of  dried  beach-grass,  that  I  supposed  he 
liked  to  hear  the  sound  of  the  surf,  he  answered  :  "  No, 


148  CAPE  COD. 

I  do  not  like  to  Lear  the  sound  of  the  surf."  He  had 
lost  at  least  one  son  in  "  the  memorable  gale,"  and  could 
tell  many  a  tale  of  the  shipwrecks  which  he  had  wit- 
nessed there. 

In  the  year  1717,  a  noted  pirate  nam^d  Bellamy  was 
led  on  to  the  bar  off  Wellfleet  by  the  captain  of  a  snow 
which  he  had  taken,  to  whom  he  had  offered  his  vessel 
again  if  he  would  pilot  him  into  Provincetown  Harbor. 
Tradition  says  that  the  latter  threw  over  a  burning  tar- 
barrel  in  the  night,  which  drifted  ashore,  and  the  pirates 
followed  it.  A  storm  coming  on,  their  whole  fleet  was 
wrecked,  and  more  than  a  hundred  dead  bodies  lay  along 
the  shore.  Six  who  escaped  shipwreck  were  executed. 
"At  times  to  this  day"  (1793),  says  the  historian  of 
"Wellfleet,  "  there  are  King  William  and  Queen  Mary's 
coppers  picked  up,  and  pieces  of  silver  called  cob-money. 
The  violence  of  the  seas  moves  the  sands  on  the  outer 
bar,  so  that  at  times  the  iron  caboose  of  the  ship  [that 
is,  Bellamy's]  at  low  ebbs  has  been  seen."  Another 
tells  us  that,  "  For  many  years  after  this  shipwreck,  a 
man  of  a  very  singular  and  frightful  aspect  used  every 
spring  and  autumn  to  be  seen  travelling  on  the  Cape, 
who  was  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  Bellamy's  crew. 
The  presumption  is  that  he  went  to  some  place  where 
money  had  been  secreted  by  the  pirates,  to  get  such  a 
supply  as  his  exigencies  required.  When  he  died,  many 
pieces  of  gold  were  found  in  a  girdle  which  he  con- 
stantly wore." 

As  I  was  walking  on  the  beach  here  in  my  last  visit, 
looking  for  shells  and  pebbles,  just  after  that  storm  which 
I  have  mentioned  as  moving  the  sand  to  a  great  depth, 
not  knowing  but  I  might  find  some  cob-money,  I  did 
actually  pick  up  a  French  crown  piece,  worth  about  a 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  149 

dollar  and  six  cents,  near  high-water  mark,  on  the  still 
moist  sand,  just  under  the  abrupt,  caving  base  of  the 
bank.  It  was  of  a  dark  slate  color,  and  looked  like  a 
flat  pebble,  but  still  bore  a  very  distinct  and  handsome 
head  of  Louis  XV.,  and  the  usual  legend  on  the  reverse. 
Sit  Nomen  Domini  Benedictum  (Blessed  be  the  Name 
of  the  Lord),  a  pleasing  sentiment  to  read  in  the  sands 
of  the  sea-shore,  whatever  it  might  be  stamped  on,  and 
I  also  made  out  the  date,  1741.  Of  course,  I  thought 
at  first  that  it  was  that  same  old  button  which  I  have 
found  so  many  times,  but  my  knife  soon  showed  the 
silver.  Afterward,  rambling  op  the  bars  at  low  tide,  I 
cheated  my  companion  by  holding  up  round  shells  (*Scm- 
tellcB)  between  my  fingers,  whereupon  he  quickly  stripped 
and  came  off  to  me. 

In  the  Revolution,  a  British  ship  of  war  called  the 
Somerset  was  wrecked  near  the  Clay  Pounds,  and  all 
on  board,  some  hundreds  in  number,  were  taken  prison- 
ers. My  informant  said  that  he  had  never  seen  any 
mention  of  this  in  the  histories,  but  that  at  any  rate  ho 
knew  of  a  silver  watch,  which  one  of  those  prisoners  by 
accident  left  there,  which  was  still  going  to  tell  the  story. 
But  this  event  is  noticed  by  some  writers. 

The  next  summer  I  saw  a  sloop  from  Chatham  drag- 
ging for  anchors  and  chains  just  off  this  shon\  She 
had  her  boats  out  at  the  work  while  she  shuflled  about 
on  various  tacks,  and,  when  anything  was  found,  drew 
up  to  hoist  it  on  board.  It  is  a  singular  employment,  at 
which  men  are  regularly  hired  and  paid  for  their  indus- 
try, to  hunt  to-day  in  pleasant  weather  for  anchors  which 
have  been  lost,  —  the  sunken  faith  and  hope  of  mariners, 
to  which  they  trusted  in  vain ;  now,  perchance,  it  is  the 
rusty  one  of  some  old  pirate's  ship  or  Norman  fisher- 


150  CAPE  COD. 

man,  whose  cab^  parted  here  two  hundred  years  ago ; 
and  now  the  best  bower  anchor  of  a  Canton  or  a  Cali- 
fornia ship,  which  has  gone  about  her  business.  If  the 
roadsteads  of  the  spiritual  ocean  could  be  thus  dragged, 
what  rusty  flukes  of  hope  deceived  and  parted  chain- 
cables  of  faith  might  again  be  windlassed  aboard  ! 
enough  to  sink  the  finder's  craft,  or  stock  new  navies 
to  the  end  of  time.  The  bottom  of  the  sea  is  strewn 
with  anchors,  some  deeper  and  some  shallower,  and 
alternately  covered  and  uncovered  by  the  sand,  per- 
chance with  a  small  length  of  iron  cable  still  attached, 
—  to  which  where  is  the  other  end  ?  So  many  uncon- 
cluded  tales  to  be  continued  another  time.  So,  if  we 
had  diving-bells  adapted  to  the  spiritual  deeps,  we  should 
see  anchors  with  their  cables  attached,  as  thick  as  eels 
in  vinegar,  all  wriggling  vainly  toward  their  holding- 
ground.  But  that  is  not  treasure  for  us  which  another 
man  has  lostl  rather  it  is  for  us  to  seek  what  na  other 
man  has  found  or  can  find,  —  not  be  Chatham  men, 
dragging  for  anchors. 

The  annals  of  this  voracious  beach  !  who  could  write 
them,  unless  it  were  a  shipwrecked  sailor  ?  How  many 
who  have  seen  it  have  seen  it  only  in  the  midst  of  dan- 
ger and  distress,  the  last  strip  of  earth  which  their  mortal 
eyes  beheld.  Think  of  the  amount  of  suffering  which 
a  single  strand  has  witnessed.  The  ancients  would  have 
represented  it  as  a  sea-monster  with  open  jaws,  more 
terrible  than  Scylla  and  Charybdis.  An  inhabitant  of 
Truro  told  me  that  about  a  fortnight  after  the  St.  John 
was  wrecked  at  Cohasset  he  found  two  bodies  on  the 
shore  at  the  Clay  Pounds.  They  were  those  of  a  man, 
and  a  corpulent  woman.  The  man  had  thick  boots  on, 
though  his  head  was  off,  but  "  it  was  alongside.'*    It  took 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  151 

the  finder  some  weeks  to  get  over  the  sight.  Perhaps 
they  were  man  and  wife,  and  whom  God  had  joined  the 
ocean  currents  had  not  put  asunder.  Yet  by  what  slight 
accidents  at  first  may  they  have  been  associated  in  their 
drifting.  Some  of  the  bodies  of  those  passengers  were 
picked  up  far  out  at  sea,  boxed  up  and  sunk ;  some 
brought  ashore  and  buried.  There  are  more  consequen- 
ces to  a  shipwreck  than  the  underwriters  notice.  The 
Gulf  Stream  may  return  some  to  theip  native  shores,  or 
drop  them  in  some  out-of-the-way  cave  of  Ocean,  where 
time  and  the  elements  will  write  new  riddles  with  their 
bones.  —  But  to  return  to  land  again. 

In  this  bank,  above  the  clay,  I  counted  in  the  summer, 
two  hundred  holes  of  the  Bank  Swallow  within  a  space 
six  rods  long,  and  there  were  at  least  one  thousand  old 
birds  within  three  times  that  distance,  twittering  over  the 
surf.  I  had  never  associated  them  in  my  thoughts  with 
the  beach  before.  One  little  boy  who  had  been  a-birds- 
nesting  had  got  eighty  swallows*  eggs  for  his  share ! 
Tell  it  not  to  the  Humane  Society.  There  were  many 
young  birds  on  the  clay  beneath,  which  had  tumbled  out 
and  died.  Also  there  were  many  Crow-blackbirds  hop- 
ping about  in  the  dry  fields,  and  the  Upland  Plover  were 
breeding  close  by  the  light-house.  The  keeper  had  once 
cut  off"  one's  wing  while  mowing,  as  she  sat  on  her  eggs 
there.  This  is  also  a  favorite  resort  for  gunners  in  the 
fall  to  shoot  the  Golden  Plover.  As  around  the  shores  of 
a  pond  are  seen  devil's-needles,  butterflies,  &c,  so  here, 
to  my  surprise,  I  saw  at  the  same  season  great  devil's- 
needles  of  a  size  proportionably  larger,  or  nearly  as  big 
as  my  finger,  incessantly  coasting  up  and  down  the  edge 
of  the  bank,  and  butterflies  also  were  hovering  over  it, 
and  I  never  saw  so  many  dorr-bugs  and  beetles  of  \iurious 


152  CAPE  COD. 

kinds  as  strewed  the  beach.  They  had  apparently 
flown  over  the  bank  in  the  night,  and  could  not  get  up 
again,  and  some  had  perhaps  fallen  into  the  sea  and  were 
washed  ashore.  They  may  have  been  in  part  attracted 
by  the  light-house  lamps. 

The  Clay  Pounds  are  a  more  fertile  tract  than  usual. 
We  saw  some  fine  patches  of  roots  and  corn  here.  As 
generally  on  the  Cape,  the  plants  had  little  stalk  or  leaf, 
but  ran  remarkably  to  seed.  The  corn  was  hardly  more 
than  half  as  high  as  in  the  interior,  yet  the  ears  were 
large  and  full,  and  one  farmer  told  us  that  he  could  raise 
forty  bushels  on  an  acre  without  manure,  and  sixty  with 
it.  The  heads  of  the  rye  also  were  remarkably  large. 
The  Shadbush  (Amelanchier),  Beach  Plums,  and  Blue- 
berries (Vaccinium  Pennsylvanicum),  like  the  apple- 
trees  and  oaks,  were  very  dwarfish,  spreading  over  the 
sand,  but  at  the  same  time  very  fruitful.  The  blueberry 
was  but  an  inch  or  two  high,  and  its  fruit  often  rested  on 
the  ground,  so  that  you  did  not  suspect  the  presence  of  the 
bushes,  even  on  those  bare  hills,  until  you  were  treading 
on  them.  I  thought  that  this  fertility  must  be  owing 
mainly  to  the  abundance  of  moisture  in  ther  atmosphere, 
for  I  observed  that  what  little  grass  there  was  was  re- 
markably laden  with  dew  in  the  morning,  and  in  summer 
dense  imprisoning  fogs  frequently  last  till  midday,  turn- 
ing one's  beard  into  a  wet  napkin  about  his  throat,  and 
the  oldest  inhabitant  may  lose  his  way  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  his  house  or  be  obliged  to  follow  the  beach  for 
a  guide.  The  brick  house  attached  to  the  light-house 
was  exceedingly  damp  at  that  season,  and  writing-paper 
lost  all  its  stiffness  in  it.  It  was  impossible  to  dry  your 
towel  after  bathing,  or  to  press  flowers  without  their  mil- 
dewing.    The  air  was  so  moist  that  we  rarely  wished  to 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  153 

•drink,  though  we  could  at  all  times  taste  the  salt  on 
our  lips.  Salt  was  rarely  used  at  table,  and  our  host 
told  us  that  his  cattle  invariably  refused  it  when  it  was 
offered  them,  they  got  so  much  with  their  grass  and  at 
every  breath,  but  he  said  that  a  sick  horse  or  one  just 
from  the  country  would  sometimes  take  a  hearty  draught 
of  salt  water,  and  seemed  to  like  it  and  be  the  better 
for  it. 

It  was  surprising  to  see  how  much  water  was  con- 
tained in  the  terminal  bud  of  the  sea-side  golden  rod, 
standing  in  the  sand  early  in  July,  and  also  how  turnips, 
beets,  carrots,  &c.,  flourished  even  in  pure  sand.  A  mau 
travelling  by  the  shore  near  there  not  long  before  us 
noticed  something  green  growing  in  the  pure  sand  of  the 
beach,  just  at  high-water  mark,  and  on  approaching  found 
it  to  be  a  bed  of  beets  flourishing  vigorously,  probably 
from  seed  washed  out  of  the  Franklin.  Also  beets  and 
turnips  came  up  in  the  sea-weed  used  for  manure  in 
many  parts  of  the  Cape.  This  suggests  how  varioui 
plants  may  have  been  dispersed  over  the  world  to  distant 
islands  and  continents.  Vessels,  with  seeds  in  their  car- 
goes, destined  for  particular  ports,  where  perhaps  they 
were  not  needed,  have  been  cast  away  on  desolate  islands, 
and  though  their  crews  perished,  some  of  their  seeds  have 
been  preserved.  Out  of  many  kinds  a  few  would  find 
a  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  them,  —  become  naturalized 
and  perhaps  drive  out  the  native  plants  at  last,  and  so  fit 
the  land  for  the  habitation  of  man.  It  is  an  ill  wind  that 
blows  nobody  any  good,  and  for  the  time  lamentable 
shipwrecks  may  thus  contribute  a  new  vegetable  to  a 
continent's  stock,  and  prove  on  the  whole  a  lasting  bless- 
ing to  its  inhabitants.  Or  winds  and  currents  might 
effect  the  same  without  the  intervention  of  man.  What 
7* 


154  CAPE  COD. 

indeed  are  the  various  succulent  plants  which  grow  on 
the  beach  but  such  beds  of  beets  and  turnips,  sprung 
originally  from  seeds  which  perhaps  were  cast  on  the 
waters  for  this  end,  though  we  do  not  know  the  Frank- 
lin which  they  came  out  of  ?  In  ancient  times  some  Mr. 
Bell  (?)  was  trailing  this  way  in  his  ark  with  seeds  of 
rocket,  saltw9rt,  sandwort,  beach-grass,  samphire,  bay- 
berry,  poverty-grass,  &c.,  all  nicely  labelled  with  direc- 
tions, intending  to  establish  a  nursery  somewhere ;  and 
did  not  a  nursery  get  established,  though  he  thought  that 
he  had  failed  ? 

About  the  light-house  I  observed  in  the  summer  the 
pretty  Pohjgcda  polygama^  spreading  ray-wise  flat  on  the 
ground,  white  pasture  thistles  {Cirsium  putnilum),  and 
amid  the  shrubbery  the  Sniilax  glhu^ca,  which  is  commonly 
said  not  to  grow  so  far  north  ;  near  the  edge  of  the  banks 
about  half  a  mile  southwaid,  the  broom  crowberry  {Em- 
peirum  Conradii)^  for  which  Plymouth  is  the  only  locality 
in  Massachusetts  usually  named,  forms  pretty  green 
mounds  four  or  five  feet  in  diameter  by  one  foot  high,  — 
soft,  springy  beds  for  the  wayfarer.  I  saw  it  afterward 
in  Provincetown,  but  prettiest  of  all  the  scarlet  pimper- 
nel, or  poor-man's  weather-glass  {Anagallis  arvensis), 
greets  you  in  fair  weather  on  almost  every  square  yard 
of  sand.  From  Yarmouth,  I  have  received  the  Chrys- 
opsis  falcata  (golden  aster),  and  Vaccimum  stamineum 
(Deerberry  or  Squaw  Huckleberry),  with  fruit  not  edible, 
sometimes  as  large  as  a  cranbeny  (Sept.  7). 

The  Highland  Light-house,*  where  we  were  staying,  is 

a  substantial-looking  building  of  brick,   painted  white, 

and   surmounted  by  an  iron  cap.      Attached   to   it   is 

the   dwelling   of  the   keeper,  one   story  high,  also  of 

*  The  light-house  has  since  been  rebuilt,  and  shows  a  Fresnel  light. 


THE  fflGHLAND  LIGHT.  155 

brick,  and  built  by  government.  As  we  were  going  to 
spend  the  night  in  a  light-house,  we  wished  to  make  the 
most  of  so  novel  an  experience,  and  therefore  told  our 
host  that  we  would  like  to  accompany  him  when  he  went 
to  light  up.  At  rather  early  candle-light  he  lighted  a 
small  Japan  lamp,  allowing  it  to  smoke  rather  more  than 
we  like  on  ordinary*  occasions,  and  told  us  to  follow  hira. 
He  led  the  way  first  through  his  bedroom,  which  was 
placed  nearest  to  the  light-house,  and  tlien  through  a 
long,  narrow,  covered  passage-way,  between  whitewashed 
walls  like  a  prison  entry,  into  the  lower  part  of  the 
light-house,  where  many  great  butts  of  oil  were  ar- 
ranged around ;  thence  we  ascended  by  a  winding  and 
open  iron  stairway,  with  a  steadily  increasing  scent  of 
oil  and  lamp-smoke,  to  a  trap-door  in  an  iron  floor,  and 
through  this  into  the  lantern.  It  was  a  neat  building, 
with  everything  in  apple-pie  order,  and  no  danger  of 
anything  rusting  thero  for  want  of  oil.  The  light  consist- 
ed of  fifteen  argand  lamps,  placed  within  smooth  concave 
reflectors  twenty-one  inches  ki  diameter,  and  arranged 
in  two  horizontal  circles  one  above  the  other,  facing 
every  way  excepting  directly  down  the  Cape.  These 
were  sunounded,  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three  feet,  by 
large  plate-glass  windows,  which  defied  the  storms,  with 
iron  sashes,  on  which  rested  the  iron  cap.  All  the  iron 
work,  except  the  floor,  was  painted  white.  And  thus 
the  light-house  was  completed.  We  walked  slowly 
round  in  that  narrow  space  as  the  keeper  lighted  each 
lamp  in  succession,  conversing  with  him  at  the  same 
moment  that  many  a  sailor  on  the  deep  witnessed  the 
lighting  of  the  Highland  Light.  His  duty  was  to  fill 
and  trim  and  light  his  lamps,  and  keep  bright  the  reflec- 
tors.    He  filted  them  every  morning,  and  trimmed  them 


156  '  CAPE  COD. 

commonly  once  in  the  course  of  the  night.  He  com- 
plained of  the  quality  of  the  oil  which  was  furnished. 
This  house  consumes  about  eight  hundred  gallons  in  a 
year,  which  cost  not  far  from  one  dollar  a  gallon ;  but 
perhaps  a  few  lives  would  be  saved  if  better  oil  were 
provided.  Another  light-house  keeper  said  that  the 
same  proportion  of  winter-strained  ^il  was  sent  to  the 
southernmost  light-house  in  the  Union  as  to  the  most 
northern.  Formerly,  when  this  light-house  had  windows 
with  small  and  thin  panes,  a  severe  storm  would  some- 
times break  the  glass,  and  then  they  were  obliged  to  put 
up  a  wooden  shutter  in  haste  to  save  their  lights  and 
reflectors,  —  and  sometimes  in  tempests,  when  the  mari- 
ner stood  most  in  need  of  their  guidance,  they  had  thus 
nearly  converted  the  light-house  into  a  dark  lantern, 
which  emitted  only  a  few  feeble  rays,  and  those  com- 
monly on  the  land  or  lee  side.  He  spoke  of  the  anxiety 
and  sense  of  responsibility  which  he  felt  in  cold  and 
stormy  nights  in  the  winter ;  when  he  knew  that  many 
a  poor  fellow  was  depending  on  him,  and  his  lamps 
burned  dimly,  the  oil  being  chilled.  Sometimes  he  was 
obliged  to  warm  the  oil  in  a  kettle  in  his  house  at  mid- 
night, and  fill  his  lamps  over  again,  —  for  he  could  not 
have  a  fire  in  the  light-house,  it  produced  such  a  sweat 
on  the  windows.  His  successor  told  me  that  he  could 
not  keep  too  hot  a  fire  in  such  a  case. "  All  this  because 
the  oil  was  poor.  A  government  lighting  the  mari- 
ners on  its  wintry  coast  with  summer-strained  oil,  to 
save  expense  !  That  were  surely  a  summer-strained 
mercy. 

This  keeper's  successor,  who  kindly  entertained  me 
the  next  year,  stated  that  one  extremely  cold  night, 
when  this  and  all  the  neighboring  lights  were  burning 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  157 

summer  oil,  but  he  had  been  provident  enough  to  re- 
serve a  little  winter  oil  against  emergencies,  he  was 
waked  up  with  anxiety,  and  .found  that  his  oil  was  con- 
gealed, and  his  lights  almost  extinguished ;  and  when, 
after  many  hours'  exertion,  he  had  succeeded  in  replen- 
ishing his  reservoirs  with  winter  oil  at  the  wick  end,  and 
with  difficulty  had  made  them  burn,  he  looked  out  and 
found  that  the  other  lights  in  the  neighborhood,  which 
were  usually  visible  to  him,  had  gone  out,  and  he  heard 
afterward  that  the  Pamet  River  and  Billingsgate  Lights 
also  had  been  extinguished. 

Our  host  said  that  the  frost,  too,  on  the  windows 
caused  him  much  trouble,  and  in  sultry  summer  nights 
the  moths  covered  them  and  dimmed  his  lights ;  some- 
times even  small  birds  flew  agjiinst  the  thick  plate  glass, 
and  were  found  on  the  ground  beneath  in  the  morning 
with  their  necks  broken.  In  the  spring  of  1855  he 
found  nineteen  small  yellowbirds,  perhaps  goldfinches 
or  myrtle-birds,  thus  lying  dead  around  the  light-house ; 
and  sometimes  in  the  fall  he  had  seen  where  a  golden 
plover  had  struck  the  glass  in  the  night,  and  left  the 
down  and  the  fatty  part  of  its  breast  on  it. 

Thus  he  struggled,  by  every  method,  to  keep  his  light 
shining  before  men.  Surely  the  light-house  keeper  has 
a  responsible,  if  an  easy,  office.  When  his  lamp  goes 
out,  he  goes  out ;  or,  at  most,  only  one  such  accident  is 
pardoned. 

I  thought  it  a  pity  that  some  poor  student  did  not  live 
tBere,  to  profit  by  all  that  light,  since  he  would  not  rob 
the  mariner.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  do  sometimes  come 
up  here  and  read  the  newspaper  when  they  are  noisy 
down  below.*'  Think  of  fifteen  argand  lamps  to  read 
the  newspaper  by !     Government  oil !  —  light,  enough, 


158  CAPE   GOD. 

perchance,  to  read  the  Constitution  by  !  I  thought  that 
he  should  read  nothing  less  than  his  Bible  by  that  light. 
I  had  a  classmate  who  j&tt;gd  for  college  by  the  lamps 
of  a  light-house,  which  was  more  light,  we  think,  than 
the  University  afforded. 

When  we  had  come  down  and  walked  a  dozen  rods 
from  the  light-house,  we  found  that  we  could  not  get  the 
full  strength  of  its  light  on  the*  narrow  strip  of  land 
between  it  and  the  shore,  being  too  low  for  the  focus, 
and  we  saw  only  so  many  feeble  and  rayless  stars ;  but 
at  forty  rods  inland  we  could  see  to  read,  though  we 
were  still  indebted  to  only  one  lamp.  Each  reflector 
sent  forth  a  separate  "  fan  "  of  light,  —  one  shone  on  the 
windmill,  and  one  in  the  hollow,  while  the  intervening 
spaces  were  in  shadow.  This  light  is  said  to  be  visible 
twenty  nautical  miles  and  more,  from  an  observer  fifteen 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  We  could  see  the 
revolving  light  at  Race  Point,  the  end  of  the  Cape, 
about  nine  miles  distant,  an^  also  the  light  on  Long 
Point,  at  the  entrance  of  Provincetown  Harbor,  and 
one  of  the  distant  Plymouth  Harbor  Lights,  across  the 
Bay,  nearly  in  a  range  with  the  last,  like  a  star  in  the 
horizon.  The  keeper  thought  that  the  other  Plymouth 
Light  was  concealed  by  being  exactly  in  a  range  with 
the  Long  Point  Light.  He  told  us  that  the  mariner 
was  sometimes  led  astray  by  a  mackerel  fisher's  lantern, 
who  was  afraid  of  being  run  down  in  the  night,  or  even 
by  a  cottager's  light,  mistaking  them  for  some  well-known 
light  on  the  coast,  and,  when  he  discovered  his  mistake, 
was  wont  to  curse  the  prudent  fisher  or  the  wakeful  cot- 
tager without  reason. 

Though  it  was  once  declared  that  Providence  placed 
this  mass  of  clay  here  on  purpose  to  erect  a  light-house 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  159 

on,  the  keeper  said  that  the  light-house  should  have  been 
erected  half  a  mile  farther  south,  where  the  coast  begins 
to  bend,  and  where  the  light  could  be  seen  at  the  same 
time  with  the  Nauset  Lights,  and  distinguished  from 
them.  They  now  talk  of  building  one  there.  It  hap- 
pens that  the  present  one  is  the  more  useless  now,  so 
near  the  extremity  of  the  Cape,  because  other  light- 
houses have  since  been  erected  there. 

Among  the  many  regulations  of  the  Light-house 
Board,  hanging  against  the  wall  here,  many  of  them 
excellent,  perhaps,  if  there  were  a  regiment  stationed 
here  to  attend  to  them,  there  is  one  requiring  the 
keeper  to  keep  an  account  of  the  number  of  vessels 
which  pass  his  light  during  the  day.  But  there  are  a 
hundred  vessels  in  sight  at  once,  steering  in  all  direc- 
tions, many  on  the  very  verge  of  the  horizon,  and  he 
must  have  more  eyes  than  Argus,  and  be  a  good  deal 
farther-sighted,  to  tell  which  are  passing  hia  light  It 
is  an  employment  in  some  respects  best  suited  to  the 
habits  of  the  gulls  which  coast  up  and  down  here,  and 
circle  over  the  sea. 

I  was  told  by  the  next  keeper,  that  on  the  8th  of 
June  following,  a  particularly  clear  and  beautiful  morn- 
ing, he  rose  about  half  an  hour  before  sunrise,  and 
having  a  little  time  to  spare,  for  his  custom  was  to 
extinguish  his  lights  at  sunrise,  walked  down  toward 
the  shore  to  see  what  he  might  find.  When  he  got  to 
the  edge  of  the  bank  he  looked  up,  and,  to  his  astonish- 
ment, saw  the  sun  rising,  and  already  part  way  above 
the  horizon.  Thinking  that  his  clock  was  wrong,  he 
made  haste  back,  and  though  it  was  still  too  early  by  the 
clock,  extinguished  his  lamps,  and  when  he  had  got 
through  and  come  down,  he  looked  out  the  window,  and. 


160  CAPE  COD. 

to  his  still  greater  astonishment,  saw  the  sun  just  where 
it  was  before,  two  thirds  above  the  horizon.  He  showed 
ine  where  its  rays  fell  on  the  wall  across  the  room.  He 
proceeded  to  make  a  fire,  and  when  he  had  done,  there 
was  the  sun  still  at  the  same  height.  "Whereupon,  not 
trusting  to  his"  own  eyes  any  longer,  he  called  up  his 
wife  to  look  at  it,  and  she  saw  it  also.  There  were  ves- 
sels in  sight  on  the  ocean,  and  their  crews,  too,  he  said, 
must  have  seen  it,  for  its  rays  fell  on  them.  It  remained 
at  that  height  for  about  fifteen  minutes  by  the  clock,  and 
then  rose  as  usual,  and  nothing  else  extraordinary  hap- 
pened during  that  day.  Though  accustomed  to  the 
coast,  he  had  never  witnessed  nor  heard  of  such  a  phe- 
nomenon before.  I  suggested  that  there  might  have 
Ijeen  a  cloud  in  the  horizon  invisible  to  him,  which  rose 
with  the  sun,  and  his  clock  was  only  as  accurate  as  the 
average ;  or  perhaps,  as  he  denied  the  possibility  of 
this,  it  was  such  a  looming  of  the  sun  as  is  said  to  occur 
at  Lake  Superior  and  elsewhere.  Sir  John  Frankhu, 
for  instance,  says  in  his  Narrative,  that  when  he  was  on 
the  shore  of  the  Polar  Sea,  the  horizontal  refraction 
varied  so  much  one  morning  that  "the  upper  limb  of 
the  sun  twice  appeared  at  the  horizon  before  it  finally 
rose." 

He  certainly  must  be  a  sun  of  Aurora  to  whom  the 
sun  looms,  when  there  are  so  many  millions  to  whom 
It  glooms  rather,  or  who  never  see  it  till  an  hour  after 
it  has  risen.  But  it  behooves  us  old  stagers  to  keep  our 
lamps  trimmed  and  burning  to  the  last,  and  not  trust  to 
the  sun's  looming. 

This  keeper  remarked  that  the  centre  of  the  flame 
should  be  exactly  opposite  the  centre  of  the  reflec^rs, 
and  that  accordingly,  if  he  was  not  careful  to  turn  down 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT.  161 

his  wicks  in  the  morning,  the  sun  falling  on  the  reflec- 
tors on  the  south  side  of  the  building  would  set  fire  to 
them,  like  a  buming-glass,  in  the  coldest  day,  and  he 
would  look  up  at  noon  and  see  them  all  lighted !  When 
your  lamp  is  ready  to  give  light,  it  is  readiest  to  receive 
it,  and  the  sun  will  hght  it.  His  successor  said  that  he 
had  never  known  them  to  .blaze  in  such  a  case,  but 
merely  to  smoke. 

I  saw  that  this  was  a  place  of  wonders.  In  a  sea 
turn  or  shallow  fog  while  I  was  there  the  next  sum- 
mer, it  being  clear  overhead,  the  edge  of  the  bank, 
twenty  rods  distant  appeared  like  a  mountain  pasture  in 
the  horizon.  I  was  completely  deceived  by  it,  and  I 
could  then  understand  why  mariners  sometimes  ran 
ashore  in  such  cases,  especially  in  the  night,  supposing 
it  to  be  far  away,  though  they  could  see  the  land.  Once 
since  this,  being  in  a  large  oyster  boat  two  or  three  hun- 
dred miles  from  here,  in  a  dark  night,  when  there  was  a 
thin  veil  of  mist  on  land  and  water,  we  came  so  near  to 
running  on  to  the  land  before  our  skipper  was  aware  of  it, 
that  the  first  warning  was  my  hearing  the  sound  of  the 
surf  under  my  elbow.  I  could  almost  have  jumped 
ashore,  and  we  were  obliged  to  go  about  very  suddenly 
to  prevent  striking.  The  distant  light  for  which  we 
were  steering,  supposing  it  a  light-house  five  or  six 
miles  off,  came  through  the  cracks  of  a  fisherman's 
bunk  not  more  than  six  rods  distant. 

The  keeper  entertained  us  handsomely  in  his  solitary 
little  ocean  house.  He  was  a  man  of  singular  patience 
and  intelligence,  who,  when  our  queries  struck  him, 
rung  as  clear  as  a  bell  in  response.  The  light-house 
lamps  a  few  feet  distant  shone  fbll  into  my  chamber,  and 
made  it  as  bright  as  day,  so  I  knew  exactly  how  the 


162  CAPE  COD. 

Highland  Light  bore  all  that  night,  and  I  w$is  in  no 
danger  of  being  wrecked.  Unlike  the  last,  this  was  as 
still  as  a  summer  night.  I  thought  as  I  lay  there,  half 
awake  and  half  asleep,  looking  upward  through  the  win- 
dow at  the  lights  above  my  head,  how  many  sleepless 
eyes  from  far  out  on  the  Ocean  stream  —  mariners  of  all 
nations  spinning  their  yams,  through  the  various  watches 
of  the  night  —  were  directed  toward  my  couch. 


IX. 

THE   SEA  AND   THE   DESERT. 


The  light-house  lamps  were  still  burning,  though  now 

with  a  silvery  lustre,  when  I  rose  to  see  the  sun  come 

out  of  the  Ocean  ;  for  he  still  rose  eastward  of  us  ;  but  I 

was  convinced  that  he  must  have  come  out  of  a  dry  bed 

beyond  that  stream,  though  he  seemed  to  come  out  of  the 

water. 

"  The  sun  once  more  touched  the  fields, 
Mounting  to  heaven  from  the  fair  flowing 
Deep-running  Ocean." 

Now  we  saw  countless  sails  of  mackerel  fishers  abroad 
on  the  deep,  one  fleet  in  the  north  just  pouring  round  the 
Cape,  another  standing  down  toward  Chatham,  and  our 
host's  son  went  off  to  join  some  lagging  member  of  the 
first  which  had  not  yet  left  the  Bay. 

Before  we  left  the  light-house  we  were  obUged  to 
anoint  our  shoes  faithfully  with  tallow,  for  walking  on  the 
beach,  in  the  salt  water  and  the  sand,  had  turned  them 
red  and  crisp.  To  counterbalance  this,  I  have  remarked 
that  the  sea-shore,  even  where  muddy,  as  it  is  not  here,  is 
singularly  clean ;  for  notwithstanding  the  spattering  of  the 
water  and  mud  and  squirting  of  the  clams  while  walking 
to  and  from  the  boat,  your  best  black  pants  retain  no 
stain  nor  dirt,  such  as  they  would  acquire  from  walking 
in  the  country. 


164  CAPE  COD. 

We  have  heard  that  a  few  days  after  this,  when  the 
Provincetown  Bank  was  robbed,  speedy  emissaries  from 
Provincetown  made  particular  inquiries  concerning  us 
at  this  light-house.  Indeed,  they  traced  us  all  the  way 
down  the  Cape,  and  concluded  that  we  came  by  this  un- 
usjial  route  down  the  back  side  and  on  foot,  in  order  that 
we  might  discover  a  way  to  get  off  with  our  booty  when 
we  had  committed  the  robbery.  The  Cape  is  so  long 
and  narrow,  and  so  bare  withal,  that  it  is  wellnigh  im- 
possible for  a  stranger  to  visit  it  without  the  knowledge 
of  its  inhabitants  generally,  unless  he  is  wrecked  on  to 
it  in  the  night.  So,  when  this  robbery  occurred,  all  their 
suspicions  seem  to  have  at  once  centred  on  us  two 
travellers  who  had  just  passed  down  it.  K  we  had  not 
chanced  to  leave  the  Cape  so  soon,  we  should  probably 
have  been  aiTCsted.  The  real  robbers  were  two  young 
men  from  Worcester  County  who  travelled  with  a  centre- 
bit,  and  are  said  to  have  done  their  work  very  neatly. 
But  the  only  bank  that  we  pried  into  was  the  great  Cape 
Cod  sand-bank,  and  we  robbed  it  only  of  an  old  French 
crown  piece,  some  shells  and  pebbles,  and  the  materials 
of  this  story. 

Again  we  took  to  the  beach  for  another  day  (October 
13),  walking  along  the  shore  of  the  resounding  sea,  de- 
termined to  get  it  into  us.  We  wished  to  associate  with 
the  Ocean  until  it  lost  the  pond-like  look  which  it  wears  to 
a  countryman.  We  still  thought  that  we  could  see  the 
other  side.  Its  surface  was  still  more  sparkling  than  the 
day  before,  and  we  beheld  "  the  countless  smilings  of 
the  ocean  waves  " ;  though  some  of  them  were  pretty 
broad  grins,  for  still  the  wind  blew  and  the  billows  broke 
in  foam  along  the  beach.  The  nearest  beach  to  us  on 
the  other  side,  whither  we  looked,  due  east,  was  on  the 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.        165 

coast  of  Galicia,  in  Spain,  whose  capital  is  Santiago, 
though  by  old  poets'  reckoning  it  should  have  been  At- 
lantis or  the  Hesperides ;  but  heaven  is  found  to  be  far- 
ther west  now.  At  first  we  were  abreast  of  that  part  of 
Portugal  entre  Douro  e  Mino,  and  then  Galicia  and  the 
port  of  Pontevedra  opened  to  us  as  we  walked  along ; 
but  we  did  not  enter,  the  breakers  ran  so  high.  The 
bold  headland  of  Cape  Finisterre,  a  little  north  of  east, 
jutted  toward  us  next,  with  its  vain  brag,  for  we  flung 
back,  —  "  Here  is  Cape  Cod,  —  Cape  Land's-Beginning." 
A  little  indentation  toward  the  north,  —  for  the  land 
loomed  to  our  imaginations  by  a  common  mirage,  —  we 
knew  was  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  we  sang : 

"  There  we  lay,  till  next  day, 

In  the  Bay  of  Biscay  0 !  " 

A  little  south  of  east  was  Palos,  where  Columbus 
weighed  anchor,  and  farther  yet  the  pillars  wliich  Her- 
cules set  Up  ;  concerning  which  when  we  inquired  at  the 
top  of  our  voices  what  was  written  on  them,  —  for  we 
had  the  morning  sun  in  our  faces,  and  could  not  see  dis- 
tinctly,— 'the  inhabitants  shouted  Ne  plus  ultra  (no 
more  beyond),  but  the  wind  bore  to  us  the  truth  only, 
plus  ultra  (more  beyond),  and  over  the  Bay  westward 
was  echoed  ultra  (beyond).  We  spoke  to  them  through 
the  surf  about  the  Far  West,  the  true  Hesperia,  €o>  irepas 
or  end  of  the  day,  the  This  Side  Sundown,  where  the 
sun  was  extinguished  in  the  Pacific^  and  we  advised 
them  to  pull  up  stakes  and  plant  those  pillars  of  theirs 
on  the  shore  of  California,  whither  all  our  folks  were 
gone,  —  the  only  ne  plus  ultra  now.  Whereat  they 
looked  crestfallen  on  their  cliffs,  for  we  had  taken  the 
wind  out  of  all  their  sails. 


166  •  CAPE  COD. 

We  could  not  perceive  that  any  of  their  leavings 
washed  up  here,  though  we  picked  up  a  child's  toy,  a 
small  dismantled  boat,  which  may  have  been  lost  at 
Pontevedra. 

The  Cape  became  narrower  and  narrower  as  we  ap- 
proached its  wrist  between  Truro  and  Provincetown, 
and  the  shore  inclined  more  decidedly  to  the  west.  At 
the  head  of  East  Harbor  Creek,  the  Atlantic  is  separated 
but  by  half -a  dozen  rods  of  sand  from  the  tide-waters  of 
the  Bay.  From  the  Clay  Pounds  the  bank  flatted  off 
for  the  last  ten  miles  to  the  extremity  at  Race  Point, 
though  the  highest  parts,  which  are  called  "  islands " 
from  their  appearance  at  a  distance  on  the  sea,  were  still 
seventy  or  eighty  feet  above  the  Atlantic,  and  afforded  a 
good  view  of  the  latter,  as  well  as  a  constant  view  of  the 
Bay,  there  being  no  trees  nor  a  hill  sufficient  to  interrupt 
it.  Also  the  sands  began  to  invade  the  land  more  and 
more,  until  finally  they  had  entire  possession  from  sea  to 
sea,  at  the  narrowest  part.  For  three  or  four  miles 
between  Truro  and  Provincetown  there  were  no  in- 
habitants from  shore  to  shore,  and  there  were  but  three 
or  four  bouses  for  twice  that  distance. 

As  we  plodded  along,  either  by  the  edge  of  the  ocean, 
where  the  sand  was  rapidly  drinking  up  the  last  wave 
that  wet  it,  or  over  the  sand-hills  of  the  bank,  the-  mack- 
erel fleet  continued  to  pour  round  the  Cape  north  of 
us,  ten  or  fifteen  miles  distant,  in  countless  numbers, 
schooner  after  schooner,  till  they  made  a  city  on  the 
water.  They  were  so  thick  that  many  appeared  to  he 
afoul  of  one  another ;  now  all  standing  on  this  tack, 
now  on  that.  We  saw  how  well  the  New-Englanders 
had  followed  up  Captain  John  Smith's  suggestions  with 
regard  to  the  fisheries,  made  in  1616,  —  to  what  a  pitch 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.         167 

they  had  carried  "  this  contemptible  trade  of  fish,"  as  he 
significantly  styles  it,  and  were  now  equal  to  the  Hol- 
landers whose  example  he  holds  up  for  the  English  to 
emulate;  notwithstanding  that  "in  this  faculty,"  as  he 
says,  "  the  former  ai-e  so  naturalized,  and  of  their  vents  so 
certainly  acquainted,  as  there  .is  no  likelihood  they  will 
ever  be  paralleled,  having  two  or  three  thousand  busses, 
flat-bottoms,  sword-pinks,  todes,  and  such  like,  that  breeds 
them  sailors,  mariners,  soldiers,  and  merchants,  never  to 
be  wrought  out  of  that  trade  and  fit  for  any  other."  We 
thought  that  it  would  take  all  these  names  and  more  to 
describe  the  ntimerous  craft  which  we  saw.  Even  then, 
some  years  before  our  "  renowned  sires "  with  their 
"  peerless  dames  "  stepped  on  Plymouth  Rock,  he  wrote, 
"  Newfoundland  doth  yearly  freight  neir  eight  hundred 
sail  of  ships  with  a  silly,  lean,  skinny,  poor-john,  and  cor 
fish,"  though  all  their  supplies  must  be  annually  trans- 
ported from  Europe.  Why  not  plant  a  colony  here 
then,  and  raise  those  supphes  on  the  spot  ?  "  Of  all  the 
four  parts  of  the  world,"  says  he,  "  that  I  have  yet  seen, 
not  inhabited,  could  I  have  but  means  to  transport  a 
colofty,  I  would  rather  live  here  than  anywhere.  And 
if  it  did  not  maintain  itself,  were  we  but  once  indiffer- 
ently well  fitted,  let  us  starve."  Then  "  fishing  before 
your  doors,"  you  "  may  every  night  sleep  quietly  ashore, 
with  good  cheer  and  what  fires  you  will,  or,  when  you 
please,  with  your  wives  and  family."  Already  he  an- 
ticipates "  the  new  towns  in  New  England  in  memory 
of  their  old,"  —  and  who  knows  what  may  be  discovered 
in  the  ''  heart  and  entrails  "  of  the  land,  "  seeing  even 
the  very  edges,"  &c.,  &c. 

All  this  has  been  accomplished,  and  more,  and  where 
is   Holland  now?     Verily   the    Dutch   have   taken   it 


168  CAPE  COD. 

There  was  no  long  interval  between  the  suggestion  of 
Smith  and  the  eulogy  of  Burke. 

Still  one  after  another  the  mackerel  schooners  hove  in 
sight  round  the  head  of  the  Cape,  "  whitening  all  the  sea 
road,"  and  we  watched  each  one  for  a  moment  with  an 
undivided  interest.  It  seemed  a  pretty  sport.  Here  in 
the  country  it  is  only  a  few  idle  boys  or  loafers  that  go  a- 
fishing  on  a  rainy  day  ;  but  there  it  appeared  as  if  every 
able-bodied  man  and  helpful  boy  in  the  Bay  had  gone 
out  on  a  pleasure  excursion  in  their  yachts,  and  all 
would  at  last  land  and  have  a  chowder  on  the  Cape. 
The  gazetteer  tells  you  gravely  how  mafty  of  the  men 
and  boys  of  these  towns  are  engaged  in  the  whale,  cod, 
and  mackerel  fishery,  how  many  go  to  the  banks  of  New- 
foundland, or  the  coast  of  Labrador,  the  Straits  of  Belle 
Isle  or  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs  (Shalore  the  sailors  call  it)  ; 
as  if  I  were  to  reckon  up  the  number  of  boys  in  Concord 
who  are  engaged  during  the  summer  in  the  perch,  pick- 
erel, bream,  horn-pout,  and  shiner  fishery,  of  which  no 
one  keeps  the  statistics,  —  though  I  think  that  it  is  pur- 
sued with  as  much  profit  to  the  moral  and  intellectual 
man  (or  boy),  and  certainly  with  less  danger  to  the  phys- 
ical one. 

One  of  my  playmates,  who  was  apprenticed  to  a  print- 
er, and  was  somewhat  of  a  wag,  asked  his  master  one 
afternoon  if  he  might  go  a-fishing,  and  his  master  con- 
sented. He  was  gone  three  months.  When  he  came 
back,  he  said  that  he  had  been  to  the  Grand  Banks,  and 
went  to  setting  type  again  as  if  only  an  afternoon  had 
intervened. 

I  confess  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  so  many  men 
spent  their  whole  day,  ay,  their  whole  lives  almost, 
a-fishins:.     It  is  remarkable  what  a  serious  business  men 


"  THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.         169 

make  of  getting  their  dinners,  and  how  universally  shift- 
lessness  and  a  grovelling  taste  take  refuge  in  a  merely 
ant-like  industry.  Better  go  without  your  dinner,  I 
thought,  than  be  thus  everlastingly  fishing  for  it  like  a 
cormorant.  Of  course,  viewed  from  the  shores  our  pur- 
suits in  the  country  appear  not  a  whit  less  frivolous. 

I  once  sailed  three  miles  on  a  mackerel  cruise  myself. 
It  was  a  Sunday  evening  after  a  very  warm  day 
in  which  there  had  been  frequent  thunder-showers, 
and  I  had  walked  along  the  shore  from  Cohasset  to 
Duxbury.  I  wished  to  get  over  from  the  last  place  to 
Clark's  Island,  but  no  boat  could  stir,  they  said,  at  that 
stage  of  the  tide,  they  being  left  high  on  the  mud.  At 
length  I  learned  that  the  tavern-keeper,  Winsor,  was 
going  out  mackerelling  with  seven  men  that  evening,  and 
would  take  me.  When  there  had  been  due  delay,  we 
one  after  another  straggled  down  to  the  shore  in  a 
leisurely  manner,  as  if  waiting  for  the  tide  still,  and  in 
India-rubber  boots,  or  carrying  our  shoes  in  our  hands, 
waded  to  the  boats,  each  of  the  crew  bearing  an  armful 
of  wood,  and  one  a  bucket  of  new  potatoes  besides. 
Then  they  resolved  that  each  should  bring  one  more 
armful  of  wood,  and  that  would  be  enough.  They  had 
already  got  a  barrel  of  water,  and  had  some  more  in  the 
schooner.  We  shoved  the  boats  a  dozen  rods  over  the 
mud  and  water  till  they  floated,  then  rowing  half  a  mile 
to  the  vessel  climbed  aboard,  and  there  we  were  in  a 
mackerel  schooner,  a  fine  stout  vessel  of  forty-three  tons, 
whose  name  I  forget  The  baits  were  not  4ry  on  the 
hooks.  There  was  the  mill  in  whicli  they 'ground  the 
mackerel,  and  the  trough  to  hold  it,  and  tlie  long-handled 
dipper  to  cast  it  overboard  with  ;  and  already  in  the 
harbor  we  saw  the  surface  rippled  with  schools  of  small 


170  CAPE  COD. 

mackerel,  the  real  Scomber  vemalis.  The  crew  proceeded 
lieisurely  to  weigh  anchor  and  raise  their  two  sails,  there 
being  a  fair  but  very  slight  wind ;  —  and  the  sun  now  set- 
ting clear  and  shining  on  the  vessel  after  the  thunder- 
showers,  I  thought  that  I  could  not  have  commenced  the 
voyage  under  more  favorable  auspices.  They  had  four 
dories  and  commonly  fished  in  them,  else  they  fished  on 
the  starboard  side  aft  where  their  lines  hung  ready,  two 
to  a  man.  The  boom  swung  round  once  or  twice,  and 
Winsor  cast  overboard  the  foul  juice  of  mackerel  mixed 
with  rain-water  which  remained  in  his  trough,  and  then 
we  gathered  about  the  helmsman  and  told  stories.  I  re- 
member that  the  compass  was  affected  by  iron  in  its 
neighborhood  and  varied  a  few  degrees.  There  was  one 
among  us  just  returned  from  California,  who  was  now 
going  as  passenger  for  his  health  and  amusement.  They 
expected  to  be  gone  about  a  week,  to  begin  fishing  the 
next  morning,  and  to  carry  their  fish  fresh  to  Boston. 
They  landed  me  at  Clark's  Island,  where  the  Pilgrims 
landed,  for  my  companions  wished  to  get  some  milk  for 
the  voyage.  But  I  had  seen  the  whole  of  it.  The  rest 
was  only  going  to  sea  and  catching  the  mackerel.  More- 
over, it  was  as  well  that  I  did  not  remain  with  them,  con- 
sidering the  small  quantity  of  supplies  they  had  taken. 

Now  I  saw  the  mackerel  fleet  on  its  fishing-ground^ 
though  I  was  not  at  first  aware  of  it.  So  my  experi- 
ence was  complete. 

It  was  even  more  cold  and  windy  to-day  than  before, 
and  we  weye  frequently  glad  to  take  shelter  behind  a 
sand-hill.'  *None  of  the  elements  were  resting.  On  the 
beach  there  is  a  ceaseless  activity,  always  something 
going  on,  in  storm  and  in  calm,  winter  and  summer, 
night  and  day.     Even  the  sedentary  man  here  enjoys 


THE  SEA  AND   THE   DESERT.  171 

a  breadth  of  view  which  is  almost  equivalent  to  motion. 
In  clear  weather  the  laziest  may  look  across  the  Bay  as 
far  as  Plymouth  at  a  glance,  or  over  the  Atlantic  as  far 
as  human  vision  reaches,  merely  raising  his  eyelids ;  or 
if  he  is  too  lazy  to  look  after  all,  he  can  hardly  help 
hearing  the  ceaseless  dash  and  roar  of  the  breakers. 
The  restless  ocean  may  at  any  moment  cast  up  a  whale 
or  a  wrecked  vessel  at  your  feet.  All  the  reporters  in 
the  world,  the  most  rapid  stenographers,  could  not  report 
the  news  it  brings.  No  creature  could  move  slowly 
where  there  was  so  much  life  around.  The  few  wreck- 
ers were  either  going  or  coming,  and  the  ships  and  the 
sand-pipers,  and  the  screaming  gulls  overhead ;  nothing 
stood  still  but  the  shore.  The  httle  beach-birds  trotted 
p^t  close  to  the  water's  edge,  or  paused  but  an  instant 
to  swallow  their  food,  keeping  time  with  the  elements. 
I  wondered  how  they  ever  got  used  to  the  sea,  that  they 
ventured  so  near  the  waves.  Such  tiny  inhabitants  the 
land  brought  forth !  except  one  fox.  And  what  could 
a  fox  do,  looking  on  the  Atlantic  from  that  high  bank  ? 
What  is  the  sea  to  a  fox  ?  Sometimes  we  met  a  wreckeir 
with  his  cart  and  dog,  —  and  his  dog's  faint  bark  at  us 
wayfarers,  heard  through  the  roaring  of  the  surf,  sounded 
ridiculously  faint.  To  see  a  little  trembUng  dainty- 
footed  cur  stand  on  the  margin  of  the  ocean,  and  ineffec- 
tually bark  at  a  beach-bird,  amid  the  roar  of  the  Atlan- 
tic !  Come  with  design  to  bark  at  a  whale,  perchance  ! 
That  sound  will  do  for  farmyards.  All  the  dogs  looked 
out  of  plajce  there,  naked  and  as  if  shuddering  at  the 
vastness ;  and  I  thought  that  they  would  not  have  been 
there  had  it  not  been  for  the  countenance  of  their  mas- 
ters. Still  less  could  you  think  of  a  cat  bending  her 
steps   that  way,   and   shaking   her  wet   foot   over   the 


172  CAPE  COD. 

Atlantic;  yet  even  this  happens  sometimes,  they  tell 
me.  In  summer  1  saw  the  tender  young  of  the  Piping 
Plover,  like  chickens  just  hatched,  mere  pinches  of  down 
on  two  legs,  running  in  troops,  with  a  faint  peep,  along 
the  edge  of  the  waves.  I  used  to  see  packs  of  half-wild 
dogs  haunting  the  lonely  beach  on  the  south  shore  of 
Staten  Island,  in  New  York  Bay,  for  the  sake  of  the 
carrion  there  cast  up ;  and  I  remember  that  once,  when 
for  a  long  time  I  had  heard  a  furious  barking  in  the  tall 
grass  of  the  marsh,  a  paclt  of  half  a  dozen  large  dogs 
burst  forth  on  to  the  beach,  pursuing  a  httle  one  which 
ran  straight  to  me  for  protection,  and  I  afforded  it  with 
some  stones,  though  at  some  risk  to  myself;  but  the  next 
day  the  little  one  was  the  first  to  bark  at  me.  Under 
these  circumstances  I  could  not  but  remember  the  words 
of  the  poet :  — 

"  Blow,  blow,  thou  winter  wind 
Thou  art  not  so  unkind 

As  his  ingratitude;  • 

Thy  tooth  is  not  so  keen. 
Because  thou  art  not  seen, 

Although  thy  breath  be  rude. 

"  Freeze,  freeze,  thou  bitter  sky, 
Tnou  dost  not  bite  so  nigh 

As  benefits  forgot; 
Though  thou  the  waters  warp. 
Thy  sting  is  not  so  sharp 

As  friend  remembered  not." 

Sometimes,  when  I  was  approaching  the  carcass  of 
a  horse  or  ox  which  lay  on  the  beach  there,  where  there 
was  no  living  creature  in  sight,  a  dog  would  unexpect- 
edly emerge  from  it  and  slink  away  with  a  mouthful 
of  offal. 

The  sea-shore  is  a  sort  of  neutral   ground,  a   most 


THE  SEA  AND   THE  DESERT.  173 

advantageous  point  from  which  to  contemplate  this 
world.  It  is  even  a  trivial  place.  The  waves  for- 
ever rolling  to  the  land  are  too  far-travelled  and  un- 
tamable to  be  familiar.  Creeping  along  the  endless 
beach  amid  the  sun-squawl  and  the  foam,  it  occurs  to 
us  that  we,  too,  are  the  product  of  sea-slime. 

It  is  a  wild,  rank  place,  and  there  is  no  flattery  in 
it.  Strewn  with  crabs,  horse-shoes,  and  razor-clams, 
and  whatever  the  sea  casts  up,  —  a  vast  morgue,  where 
famished  dogs  may  range  in  packs,  and  crows  come 
daily  to  glean  the  pittance  which  the  tide  leaves  them. 
The  carcasses  of  men  and  beasts  together  lie  stately 
up  upon  its  shelf,  rotting  and  bleaching  in  the  sun  and 
waves,  and  each  tide  turns  them  in  their  beds,  and  tucks 
fresh  sand  under  them.  There  is  naked  Nature,  —  inhu- 
manly sincere,  wasting  no  thought  on  man,  nibbling  at 
the  cliffy  shore  where  gulls  wheel  amid  the  spray. 

We  saw  this  forenoon  what,  at  a  distance,  looked  like 
a  bleached  log  with  a  branch  still  left  on  it.  It  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  principal  bones  of  a  whale,  whose  car- 
cass, having  been  stripped  of  blubber  at  sea  and  cut 
adrift,  had  been  washed  up  some  months  before.  It 
chanced  that  this  was  the  most  conclusive  evidence  which 
we  met  with  to  prove,  what  the  Copenhagen  antiquaries 
assert,  that  these  shores  were  ihe  Furdustrandas,  which 
Thorhall,  the  companion  of  Thorfinn  during  his  expe- 
dition to  Vinland  in  1007,  sailed  past  in  .disgust.  It 
appears  that  after  they  had  left  the  Cape  and  explored 
the  country  about  Straum-Fiordr  (Buzzards'  Bay !), 
Thorhall,  who  was  disappointed  at  not  getting  any  wine 
to  drink  there,  determined  to  sail  north  again  in  search 
of  Vinland.  Though  the  antiquaries  have  given  us  the 
original  Icelandic,  I  prefer  to  quote  their  translation, 


174  CAPE  COD. 

since  theirs  is  the  only  Latin  which  I  know  to  have  been 
aimed  at  Cape  Cod. 

"  Cum  parati  erant,  sublato 
velo,  cecinit  Thorhallus: 
E6  redeanms,  ubi  conterranei 
sunt  nostri!  faciaraus  aliter, 
expansi  arenosi  peritum, 
lata  navis  explorare  curricula: 
dnm  procellara  incitantes  gladii 
morae  impatientes,  qui  terrain 
collaudant,  Furdustrandas 
inhabitant  et  coquunt  balsenas.'' 

In  other  words :  "  When  they  were  ready  and  their  sail 
hoisted,  Thorhall  sang :  Let  us .  return  thither  where 
our  fellow-countrymen  are.  Let  us  make  a  bird  *  skil- 
ful to  fly  through  the  heaven  of  sand,t  to  explore  the 
broad  track  of  ships ;  while  warriors  who  impel  to  the 
tempest  of  swordsjj  who  praise  the  land,  inhabit  Wonder- 
Strands,  and  cook  whales.^^  And  so  he  sailed  north  past 
Cape  Cod,  as  the  antiquaries  say,  "  and  was  shipwrecked 
on  to  Ireland." 

Though  once  there  were  more  whales  cast  up  here, 
I  think  that  it  was  never  more  wild  than  now.  We  do 
not  associate  the  idea  of  antiquity  with  the  ocean,  nor 
wonder  how  it  looked  a  thousand .  years  ago,  as  we  do 
of  the  land,  for  it  was  equally  wild  and  unfathomable 
always.  The  Indians  have  left  no  traces  on  its  surface, 
but  it  is  the  same  to  the  civilized  man  and  the  savage. 
The  aspect  of  the  shore  only  has  changed.  The  ocean 
is  a  wilderness  reaching  round  the  globe,  wilder  than  a 
Bengal  jungle,  and  fuller  of  monsters,  washing  the  very 
wharves  of  our  cities  and  the  gardens  of  our  sea-side 

*  I.  e.  a  vessel. 

t  The  sea,  which  is  arched  over  its  sandy  bottom  like  a  heaven. 

X  Battle. 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  175 

residences.  Serpents,  bears,  hyenas,  tigers,  rapidly  van- 
ish as  civilization  advances,  but  the  most  populous  and 
civilized  city  cannot  scare  a  shark  far  from  its  wharves. 
It  is  no  further  advanced  than  Singapore,  with  its  tigefs, 
in  this  respect.  The  Boston  papers  had  never  told  me 
that  there  were  seals  in  the  harbor.  I  had  always  asso- 
ciated these  with  the  Esquimaux  and  other  outlandish 
people.  Yet  from  the  parlor  windows  all  along  the 
coast  you  may  see  families  of  them  sporting  on  the  flats. 
They  were  as  strange  to  me  as  the  merman  would  be. 
Ladies  who  never  walk  in  the  woods,  sail  over  the  sea. 
To  go  to  sea !  Why,  it  is  to  have  the  experience  of 
Noah,  —  to  realize  the  deluge.  Every  vessel  is  an 
ark. 

We  saw  no  fences  as  we  walked  the  beach,  no  birchen 
riders,  highest  of  rails,  projecting  into  the  sea  to  keep  the 
cows  from  wading  round,  nothing  to  remind  us  that  man 
was  proprietor  of  the  shore.  Yet  a  Truro  man  did  tell  us 
that  owners  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  that  town  were 
regarded  as  owning  the  beach,  in  order  that  they  might 
have  the  control  of  it  so  far  as  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  sand  and  the  beach- 
grass, —  for  even  this  friend  is  sometimes  regarded  as 
a  foe ;  but  he  said  that  this  was  not  the  case  on  the  Bay 
side.  Also  I  have  seen  in  sheltered  parts  of  the  Bay 
temporary  fences  running  to  low-water  mark,  the  posts 
being  set  in  sills  or  sleepers  placed  transversely. 

After  we  had  been  walking  many  hours,  the  mackerel 
fleet  still  hovered  in  the  northern  horizon  nearly  in  the 
same  direction,  but  farther  off,  hull  down.  Though  their 
sails  were  set  they  never  sailed  away,  nor  yet  came  to 
anchor,  but  stood  on  various  tacks  as  close  together  as 
vessels  in  a  haven,  and  we,  in  our  ignorance,  thought 


176  CAPE  COD. 

that  they  were  contending  patiently  with  adverse  winds, 
beating  eastward ;  but  we  learned  afterward  that  they 
were  even  then  on  their  fishing-ground,  and  that  they 
caught  mackerel  without  taking  in  their  mainsails  or 
coming  to  anchor,  "a  smart  breeze"  (thence  called  a 
mackerel  breeze)  being,"  as  one  says,  "  considered  most 
favorable"  for  this  purpose.  We  counted  about  two 
hundred  sail  of  mackerel  fishers  within  one  small  arc 
of  the  horizon,  and  a  nearly  equal  number  had  disap- 
peared southward.  Thus  they  hovered  about  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Cape,  like  moths  round  a  candle ;  the 
lights  at  Race  Point  and  Long  Point  being  bright  can- 
dles for  them  at  night,  —  and  at  this  distance  they 
looked  fair  and  white,  as  if  they  had  not  yet  flown 
into  the  light,  but  nearer  at  hand  afterward,  we  saw 
how  some  had  formerly  singed  their  wings  and  bodies. 

A  village  seems  thus,  where  its  able-bodied  men  are 
all  ploughing  the  ocean  together,  as  a  common  field. 
In  North  Truro  the  women  and  girls  may  sit  at  their 
doors,  and  see  where  their  husbands  and  brothers  are 
harvesting  their  mackerel  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  off*, 
on  the  sea,  with  hundreds  of  white  harvest  wagons, 
just  as  in  the  country  the  farmers'  wives  sometimes 
see  their  husbands  working  in  a  distant  hill-side  field. 
But  the  sound  of  no  dinner-horn  can  reach  the  fisher's 
ear. 

Having  passed  the  narrowest  part  of  the  waist  of  the 
Cape,  though  still  in  Truro,  for  this  township  is  about 
twelve  miles  long  on  the  shore,  we  crossed  over  to 
the  Bay  side,  not  half  a  mile  distant,  in  order  to  spend 
the  noon  on  the  nearest  shrubby  sand-hill  in  Province- 
town,  called  Mount  Ararat,  which  rises  one  hundred  feet 
above  the  ocean.    On  our  way  thither  we  had  occasion  to 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.         177 

admire  the  various  beautiful  forms  and  colors  of  the  sand, 
and  we  noticed  an  interesting  mirage,  which  I  have 
since  found  that  Hitchcock  also  observed  on  the  sands 
of  the  Cape.  We  were  crossing  a  shallow  valley  in 
the  Desert,  where  the  smooth  and  spotless  sand  sloped 
upward  by  a  small  angle  to  the  horizon  on  every  side, 
and  at  the  lowest  part  was  a  long  chain  of  clear  but 
shallow  pools.  As  we  were  approaching  these  for  a 
drink  in  a  diagonal  direction  across  the  valley,  they 
appeared  inclined  at  a  slight  but  decided  angle  to  the 
horizon,  though  they  were  plainly  and  broadly  con- 
nected with  one  another,  and  there  was  not  the  least 
ripple  to  suggest  a  current;  so  that  by  the  time  we 
had  reached  a  convenient  part  of  one  we  seemed  to 
have  ascended  several  feet.  They  appeared  to  lie  by 
magic  on  the  side  of  the  vale,  like  a  mirror  left  in  a 
slanting  position.  It  was  a  very  pretty  mirage  for  a 
Provincetown  desert,  but  not  amounting  to  what,  in 
Sanscrit,  is  called  "  the  thirst  of  the  gazelle,"  as  there 
was  real  water  here  for  a  base,  and  we  were  able  to 
quench  our  thirst  after  all. 

Professor  Rafn,  of  Copenhagen,  thinks  that  the  mi- 
rage which  I  noticed,  but  which  an  old  inhabitant  of 
Provincetown,  to  whom  I  mentioned  it,  had  never  seen 
nor  heard  of,  had  something  to  do  with  the  name  "  Fur- 
dustrandas,"  i.  e.  Wonder-Strands,  given,  as  I  have  said, 
in  the  old  Icelandic  account  of  Thorfinn's  expedition 
to  Vinland  in  the  year  1007,  to  a  part  of  the  coast 
on  which  he  landed.  But  these  sands  are  more  re- 
markable for  their  length  than  for  their  mirage,  which 
is  common  to  all  deserts,  and  the  reason  for  the  name 
which  the  Northmen  themselves  give,  —  "because  it 
took  a  long  time  to  sail  by  them, "  —  is  sufficient  and^ 

8*  L 


178  CAPE  COD. 

more  applicable  to  i.bese  shores.  However,  if  you  should 
sail  all  the  way  from  Greenland  to  Buzzard's  Bay  along 
the  coast,  you  would  get  sight  of  a  good  many  sandy 
beaches.  But  whether  Thor-finn  saw  the  mirage  here 
or  not,  Thor-eau,  one  of  the  same  family,  did ;  and  per- 
chance it  was  because  Lief  the  Lucky  had,  in  a  previous 
voyage,  taken  Thor-er  and  his  people  off  the  rock  in  the 
middle  of  the  sea,  that  Thor-eau  was  born  to  see  it. 

This  was  not  the  only  mirage  which  I  saw  on  the 
Cape.  That  half  of  the  beach  next  the  bank  is  com- 
monly level,  or  nearly  so,  while  the  other  slopes  down- 
ward to  the  water.  As  I  was  walking  upon  the  edge 
of  the  bank  in  Wellfleet  at  sundown,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  the  inside  half  of  the  beach  sloped  upward  toward 
the  water  to  meet  the  other,  forming  a  ridge  ten  or 
twelve  feet  high  the  whole  length  of  the  shore,  but 
higher  always  opposite  to  where  I  stood ;  and  I  was  not 
convinced  of  the  contrary  till  I  descended  the  bank, 
though  the  shaded  outhnes  left  by  the  waves  of  a  pre- 
vious tide  but  half-way  down  the  apparent  declivity 
might  have  taught  me  better.  A  stranger  may  easily 
detect  what  is  strange  to  the  oldest  inhabitant,  for  the 
strange  is  his  province.  The  old  oysterman,  speaking 
of  gull-shooting,  had  said  that  you  must  aim  under, 
when  firing  down  the  bank. 

A  neighbor  tells  me  that  one  August,  looking  through 
a  glass  from  Naushon  to  some  vessels  which  were  sail- 
ing along  near  Martha's  Vineyard,  the  water  about  them 
appeared  perfectly  smooth,  so  that  they  were  reflected  in 
it,  and  yet  their  full  sails  proved  that  it  must  be  rippled, 
and  they  who  were  with  him  thought  that  it  was  a  mi- 
rage, i.  e.  a  reflection  from  a  haze. 

From  the  above-mentioned  sand-hill  we   overlooked 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  179 

Provincetown  and  its  harbor,  now  emptied  of  vessels, 
and  also  a  wide  expanse  of  ocean.  As  we  did  not  wish 
to  enter  Provincetown  before  night,  though  it  was  cold 
and  windy,  we  returned  across  the  Deserts  to  the  Atlan- 
tic side,  and  walked  along  the  beach  again  nearly  to 
Race  Point,  being  still  greedy  of  the  sea  influence.  All 
the  while  it  was  not  so  calm  as  the  reader  may  suppose, 
but  it  was  blow,  blow,  blow,  —  roar,  roar,  roar,  —  tramp, 
tramp,  tramp,  —  without  interruption.  The  shore  now 
trended  nearly  east  and  west. 

Before  sunset,  having  already  seen  the  mackerel  fleet 
returning  into  the  Bay,  we  left  the  sea-shore  on  the  north 
of  Provincetown,  and  made  our  way  across  the  Desert  to 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  town.  From  the  first  high 
sand-hill,  covered  with  beach-grass  and  bushes  to  its  top, 
on  the  edge  of  the  desert,  we  overlooked  the  shrubby 
hill  and  swamp  country  which  surrounds  Provincetown 
on  the  north,  and  protects  it,  in  some  measure,  from  the 
invading  sand.  Notwithstanding  the  universal  barren- 
ness, and  the  contiguity  of  the  desert,  I  never  saw  an 
autumnal  landscape  so  beautifully  painted  as  this  was. 
It  was  like  the  richest  rug  imaginable  spread  over  an 
uneven  surface  ;  no  damask  nor  velvet,  nor  Tyrian  dye 
or  stuffs,  nor  the  work  of  any  loom,  could  ever  match  it. 
There  was  the  incredibly  bright  red  of  the  Huckleberry, 
and  the  reddish  brown  of  the  Bayberry,  mingled  with 
the  bright  and  living  green  of  small  Pitch-Pines,  and  also 
the  duller  green  of  the  Bayberry,  Boxberry,  and 'Plum, 
the  yellowish  green  of  the  Shrub  Oaks,  and  the  various 
golden  and  yellow  and  fawn  colored  tints  of  the  Birch 
and  Maple  and  Aspen,  —  each  making  its  own  figure, 
and,  in  the  midst,  the  few  yellow  sand-slides  on  the  sides 
of  the  hills  looked  like  the  white  floor  seen  through 


180  CAPE  COD. 

rents  in  the  rug.  Coming  from  the  country  as  I  did, 
and  many  autumnal  woods  as  I  had  seen,  this  was  per- 
haps the  most  novel  and  remarkable  sight  that  I  saw  on 
the  Cape.  Probably  the  brightness  of  the  tints  was  en- 
hanced by  contrast  with  the  sand  which  surrounded  this 
track.  This  was  a  part  of  the  furniture  of  Cape  Cod. 
We  had  for  days  walked  up  the  long  and  bleak  piazza 
which  runs  along  her  Atlantic  side,  then  over  the  sanded 
floor  of  her  halls,  and  now  we  were  being  introduced 
into  her  boudoir.  The  hundred  white  sails  crowding 
round  Long  Point  into  Provincetown  Harbor,  seen  over 
the  painted  hills  in  front,  looked  like  toy  ships  upon  -a 
mantle-piece. 

The  peculiarity  of  this  autumnal  landscape  consisted 
in  the  lowness  and  thickness  of  the  shrubbery,  no  less 
than  in  the  brightness  of  the  tints.  It  was  like  a  thick 
stuff  of  worsted  or  a  fleece,  and  looked  as  if  a  giant 
could  take  it  up  by  the  hem,  or  rather  the  tasselled  fringe 
which  trailed  out  on  the  sand,  and  shake  it,  though  it 
needed  not  to  be  shaken.  But  no  doubt  the  dust  would 
fly  in  that  case,  for  not  a  little  has  accumulated  under- 
neath it.  Was  it  not  such  an  autumnal  landscape  as 
this  which  suggested  our  high-colored  rugs  and  carpets  ? 
Hereafter  when  I  look  on  a  richer  rug  than  usual,  and 
study  its  figures,  I  shall  think,  there  are  the  huckleberry 
hills,  and  there  the  denser  swamps  of  boxberry  and 
blueberry :  there  the  shrub  oak  patches  and  the  bay- 
berriea^  there  the  maples  and  the  birches  and  the  pines. 
What  other  dyes  are  to  be  compared  to  these  ?  They 
were  warmer  colors  than  I  had  associated  with  the  New 
England  coast. 

After  threading  a  swamp  full  of  boxberry,  and  climb- 
ing several  hills  covered  with  shrub-oaks,  without  a  path. 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  181 

where  shipwrecked  men  would  be  in  danger  of  perish- 
ing in  the  night,  we  came  down  upon  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  four  planks  which  run  the  whole  length 
of  Provincetown  street.  This,  which  is  the  last  town 
on  the  Cape,  lies  mainly  in  one  street  along  the  curving 
beach  fronting  the  southeast.  The  sand-hills,  covered 
with  shrubbery  and  interposed  with  swamps  and  ponds, 
rose  inmiediately  behind  it  in  the  form  of  a  crescent, 
which  is  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  or  more  wide  in  the 
middle,  and  beyond  these  is  the  desert,  which  is  the 
greater  part  of  its  territory,  stretching  to  the  sea  on  the 
east  and  west  and  north.  The  town  is  compactly  built 
in  the  narrow  space,  from  ten  to  fifty  rods  deep,  between 
the  harbor  and  the  sand-hills,  and  contained  at  that  time 
about  twenty-six  hundred  inhabitants.  The  houses,  in 
which  a  more  modern  and  pretending  style  has  at  length 
prevailed  over  the  fisherman's  hut,  stand  on  the  inner  or 
plahk  side  of  the  street,  and  the  fish  and  store  houses, 
with  the  picturesque-looking  windmills  of  the  Salt-works, 
on  the  water  side.  Tlie  narrow  portion  of  the  beach 
between  forming  the  street,  about  eighteen  feet  wide,  the 
only  one  where  one  carriage  could  pass  another,  if  there 
was  more  than  one  carriage  in  the  town,  looked  much 
"heavier"  than  any  portion  of  the  beach  or  the  desert 
which  we  had  walked  on,  it  being  above  the  reach  of  the 
highest  tide,  and  the  sand  being  kept  loose  by  the  occa- 
sional passage  of  a  traveller.  We  learned  that  the  four 
planks  on  which  we  were  walking  had  been  bought  by  the 
town's  share  of  the  Surplus  Revenue,  the  disposition  of 
which  was  a  bone  of  contention  between  the  inhabitants, 
till  they  wisely  resolved  thus  to  put  it  under  foot.  Yet 
some,  it  was  said,  were  so  provoked  because  they  did  not 
receive  their  particular  share  in  money,  that  they  per- 


182  CAPE  COD. 

sisted  in  walking  in  the  sand  a  long  tijtne  after  the  side- 
walk was  built.  This  is  the  only  instance  which  I 
happen  to  know  in  which  the  surplus  revenue  proved  a 
blessing  to  any  town.  A  surplus  revenue  of  dollai*s 
from  the  treasury  to  stem  the  greater  evil  of  a  surplus 
revenue  of  sand  from  the  ocean.  They  expected  to 
make  a  hard  road  by  the  time  these  planks  were  worn 
out.  Indeed,  they  have  already  done  so  since  we  were 
there,  and  have  almost  forgotten  their  sandy  baptism. 

As  we  passed  along  we  observed  the  inhabitants  en- 
gaged in  curing  either  fish  or  the  coarse  salt  hay  which 
they  had  brought  home  and  spread  on  the  beach  before 
their  doors,  looking  as  yellow  as  if  they  had  raked  it  out 
of  the  sea.  The  front-yard  plots  appeared  like  what  in- 
deed they  were,  portions  of  the  beach  •  fenced  in,  with 
Beach-grass  growing  in  them,  as  if  they  were  sometimes 
covered  by  the  tide.  You  might  still  pick  up  shells  and 
pebbles  there.  There  were  a  few  trees  among  the 
houses,  especially  silver  abeles,  willows,  and  balm-of- 
Gileads ;  and  one  man  showed  me  a  young  oak  which  he 
had  transplanted  from  behind  the  town,  thinking  it  sin 
apple-tree.  But  every  man  to  his  trade.  Though  he 
bad  little  woodcraft,  he  was  not  the  less  weatherwdse,  and 
gave  us  one  piece  of  information ;  viz.  he  had  observed 
that  when  a  thunder-cloud  came  up  with  a  flood-tide  it 
did  not  rain.  This  was  the  most  completely  maritime 
town  that  iwe  were  ever  in.  It  was  merely  a  good  har- 
bor, surrounded  by  land  dry,  if  not  firm,  —  an  inhabited 
beach,  whereon  fishermen  cured  and  stored  their  fish, 
without  any  back  country.  When  ashore  the  inhabitajnts 
still  walk  on  planks.  A  few  small  patches  have  been 
reclaimed  from  the  swamps,  containing  commonly  half  a 
dozen  square  rods  only  each.     We  saw  one  which  was 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  183 

fenced  with  four  lengths  of  rail  ;  also  a  fence  made 
wholly  of  hogshead-staves  stuck  in  the  ground..  These, 
and  such  as  these,  were  all  the  cultivated  and  cultiva- 
ble land  in  Provincetown.  We  were  told  that  there 
were  thirty  or  forty  acres  in  all,  but  we  did  not  discover 
a  quarter  part  so  much,  and  that  was  well  dusted  with 
sand,  and  looked  as  if  the  desert  was  claiming  it.  They 
are  now  turning  some  of  their  swamps  into  Cranberry 
Meadows  on  quite  an  extensive  scale. 

Yet  far  from  being  out  of  the  way,  Provincetown  is 
directly  in  the  way  of  the  navigator,  and  he  is  lucky  who 
does  not  run  afoul  of  it  in  the  dark.  It  is  situated  on 
one  of  the  highways  of  commerce,  and  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  globe  touch  there  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

The  mackerel  fleet  had  nearly  all  got  in  before  us,  it 
being  Saturday  night,  excepting  that  division  which  had 
stood  down  towards  Chatham  in  the  morning  ;  and  from 
a  hill  where  we  went  to  see  the  sun  set  in  the  Bay,  we 
counted  two  hundred  goodly  looking  schooners  at  anchor 
m  the  harbor  at  various  distances  from  the  shore,  and 
more  were  yet  coming  round  the  Cape.  As  each  came 
to  anchor,  it  took  in  sail  and  swung  round  in  the  wind, 
and  lowered  its  boat.  They  belonged  chiefly  to  Well- 
fleet,  Truro,  and  Cape  Ann.  This  was  that  city  of 
canvas  which  we  had  seen  hull  down  in  the  horizon. 
Near  at  hand,  and  under  bare  poles,  they  were  unex- 
pectedly black-looking  vessels,  fieXaivai  v^fp.  A  fish- 
erman told  us  that  there  were  fifteen  hundred  vessels  in 
the  mackerel  fleet,  and  that  he  had  counted  three 
hundred  and  fifty  in  Provincetown  Harbor  at  one  time. 
Being  obliged  to  anchor  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
the  shore  on  account  of  the  shallowness  of  the  water, 
they  made  the  impression  of  a  larger  fleet  than  the  ves- 


184  CAPE  COD. 

sels  at  the  wharves  of  a  large  city.  As  they  had  been 
manoeuvrmg  out  there  all  day  seemingly  for  our  enter- 
tainment, while  we  were  walking  northwestward  along 
the  Atlantic,  so  now  we  found  them  flocking  into  Prov- 
incetown  Harbor  at  night,  just  as  we  arrived,  as  if  to 
meet  us,  and  exhibit  themselves  close  at  hand.  Stand- 
ing by  Race  Point  and  Long  Point  with  various  speed, 
they  reminded  me  of  fowls  coming  home  to  roost. 

These  were  genuine  New  England  vessels.  It  is 
stated  in  the  Journal  of  Moses  Prince,  a  brother  of  the 
annalist,  under  date  of  1721,  at  which  time  he  visited 
Gloucester,  that  the  first  vessel  of  the  class  called 
schooner  w^as  built  at  Gloucester  about  eight  years  before, 
by  Andrew  Robinson ;  and  late  in  the  same  century  one 
Cotton  Tufts  gives  us  the  tradition  with  some  particulars, 
which  he  learned  on  a  visit  to  the  same  place.  Accord- 
ing to  the  latter,  Robinson  having  constructed  a  vessel 
which  he  masted  and  rigged  in  a  peculiar  manner,  on  her 
going  off  the  stocks  a  by-stander  cried  out,  "  0,  how  she 
scoons  ! "  whereat  Robinson  replied,  "  A  schooner  let 
her  he!"  "From  which  time,"  says  Tufts,  "Vessels 
thus  masted  and  rigged  have  gone  by  the  name  x)f 
schooners  ;  before  which,  vessels  of  this  description  were 
not  known  in  Europe."  (See  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol. 
IX.,  1st  Series,  and  Vol.  I.,  4th  Series.)  Yet  I  can 
hardly  believe  this,  for  a  schooner  has  always  seemed  to 
me  —  the  typical  vessel. 

According  to  C.  E,  Potter  of  Manchester,  New* 
Hampshire,  the  very  word  schooner  is  of  New  England 
origin,  being  from  the  Indian  schoon  or  scoot,  meaning  to 
rush,  as  Schoodic,  from  scoot  and  anhe,  a  place  where 
water  rushes.  N.  B.  Somebody  of  Gloucester  was  to 
read  a  paper  on  this  matter  before  a  genealogical  society, 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  185 

in  Boston,  March  3, 1859,  according  to  the  Boston  Jour- 
nal, q.  V. 

Nearly  all  who  come  out  must  walk  on  the  four 
planks  which  I  have  mentioned,  so  that  you  are  pretty 
sure  to  meet  all  the  inhabitants  of  Provincetown  who 
come  out  in  the  course  of  a  day,  provided  you  keep  out 
yourself.  This  evening  the  planks  were  crowded  with 
mackerel  fishers,  to  whom  we  gave  and  from  whom  we 
took  the  wall,  as  we  returned  to  our  hotel.  This  hotel 
was  kept  by  a  tailor,  his  shop  on  the  one  side  of  the 
door,  his  hotel  on  the  other,  and  his  day  seemed  to  be 
divided  between  carving  meat  and  carving  broadcloth. 

The  next  morning,  though  it  was  still  more  cold  and 
blustering  than  the  day  before,  we  took  to  the  Aeserts 
again,  for  we  spent  our  days  wholly  out  of  doors,  in  the 
sun  when  there  was  any,  and  in  the  wind  which  never 
failed.  After  threading  the  shrubby  hill  country  at  the 
southwest  end  of  the  town,  west  of  the  Shank-Painter 
Swamp,  whose  expressive  name  —  for  we  understood 
it  at  first  as  a  landsman  naturally  would —  gave  it  im- 
portance in  our  eyes,  we  crossed  the  sands  to  the  shore 
south  of  Race  Point  and  three  miles  distant,  and  thence 
roamed  round  eastward  through  the  desert  to  where  we 
had  left  the  sea  the  evening  before.  We  travelled  five 
or  six  miles  after  we  got  out  there,  on  a  curving  Ime, 
and  might  have  gone  nine  or  ten,  over  vast  platters  of 
pure  sand,  from  the  midst  of  which  we  could  not  see  a 
particle  of  vegetation,  excepting  the  distant  thin  fields  of 
Beach-grass,  which  crowned  and  made  the  ridges  toward 
which  the  sand  sloped  upward  on  each  side  ;  —  all  the 
while  in  the  face  of  a  cutting  wind  as  cold  as  January  ; 
indeed,  we  experienced  no  weather  so  cold  as  this  for 
nearly  two  months  afterward.     This  desert  extends  from 


186  CAPE  COD. 

the  extremity  of  the  Cape,  through  Provincetown  into 
Truro,  and  many  a  time  as  we  were  traversing  it  we 
were  reminded  of  "  Riley's  Narrative "  of  his  captivity 
in  the  sands  of  Arabia,  notwithstanding  the  cold.  Our 
eyes  magnified  the  patches  of  Beach-grass  into  corn- 
fields in  the"  horizon,  and  we  probably  exaggerated 
the  height  of  the  ridges  on  account  of  the  mirage. 
I  was  pleased  to  learn  afterward,  from  Kalm's  Travels 
in  North  America,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Lower 
St.  Lawrence  call  this  grass  ( Calamagrostis  arenaria), 
and  also  Sea-lyme  grass  {Elymus  arenarius),  seigle  de 
mer  ;  and  he  adds,  "  I  have  been  assured  that  these  plants 
grow  in  great  plenty  in  Newfoundland,  and  on  other 
Nortli^American  shores ;  the  places  covered  with  them 
looking,  at  a  distance,  like  cornfields  ;  which  might  ex- 
plain the  passage  in  our  northern  accounts  [he  wrote  in 
1749]  of  the  excellent  wine  land  [  Vinland  det  goda, 
Translator],  which  mentions  that  they  had  found  whole 
fields  of  wheat  growing  wild." 

The  Beach-grass  is  "  two  to  four  feet  higfi,  of  a  sea- 
green  color,"  and  it  is  said  to  be  widely  diffused  over  the 
world.  In  the  Hebrides  it  is  used  for  mats,  pack-saddles, 
bags,  hats,  &c. ;  paper  has  been  made  of  it  at  Dorches- 
ter in  this  State,  and  cattle  eat  it  when  tender.  It  has 
heads  somewhat  like  rye,  from  six  inches  to  a  foot  in 
length,  and  it  is  propagated  both  by  roots  and  seeds. 
To  express  its  love  for  sand,  some  botanists  have  called 
it  Psamma  arenaria,  which  is  the  Greek  for  sand,  quali- 
fied by  the  Latin  for  sandy,  —  or  sandy  sand.  As  it  is 
blown  about  by  the  wind,  while  it  is  held,  fast  by  its 
roots,  it  describes  myriad  circles  in  the  sand  as  accu- 
rately as  if  they  were  made  by  compasses. 

It  was  the  dreariest  scenery  imaginable.     The  only 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.        187 

animals  which  we  saw  on  the  sand  at  that  time  were 
spiders,  which  are  to  be  found  almost  everywhere 
whether  on  snow  or  ice-water  or  sand,  —  and  H  venom- 
ous-looking, long,  narrow  worm,  one  of  the  myriapods, 
or  thousand-legs.  We  were  surprised  to  see  spider- 
holes  in  that  flowing  sand  with  an  edge  as  firm  as  that 
of  a  stoned  well. 

•  In  June  this  sand  was  scored  with  the  tracks  of  turtles 
both  large  and  small,  which  had  been  out  in  the  night, 
leading  to  and  from  the  swamps.  I  was  told  by  a  terrce 
Jllitts  who  has  a  **  farm  "  on  the  edge  of  the  desert,  and 
is  familiar  with  the  fame  of  Provincetown,  that  one  man 
had  caught  twenty-five  snapping-turtles  there  the  pre- 
vious spring.  His  own  method  of  catching  them  was 
to  put  a  toad  on  a  mackerel-hook  and  cast  it  into  a  pond, 
tying  the  line  to  a  stump  or  stake  on  shore.  Invariably 
the  turtle  when  hooked  crawled  up  the  line  to  the  stump, 
and  was  found  waiting  there  by  his  captor,  however  long 
afterward.  He  also  said  that  minks,  muskrats,  foxes, 
coons,  and  wild  mice  were  found  there,  but  no  squirrels. 
"We  heard  of  sea-turtle  as  large  as  a  barrel  being  found 
on  the  beach  and  on  East  Harbor  marsh,  but  whether 
they  were  native  there,  or  had  been  lost  out  of  some  ves- 
sel, did  not  appear.  Perhaps  they  were  the  Salt-water 
Terrapin,  or  else  the  Smooth  Terrapin,  found  thus  far 
north.  Many  toads  were  met  with  where  there  was 
nothing  but  sand  and  beach-grass.  In  Truro  I  had  been 
surprised  at  the  number  of  large  light-colored  toads 
everywhere  hopping  over  the  dry  and  sandy  fields,  their 
color  corresponding  to  that  of  the  sand.  Snakes  also  are 
common  on  these  pure  sand  beaches,  and  I  have  never 
been  so  much  troubled  by  mosquitoes  as  in  such  locahties. 
At  the  same  season  strawb.erries  grew  there  abundantly 


188  CAPE  COD. 

in  the  little  hollows  on  the  edge  of  the  desert  standing 
amid  the  beach-grass  in  the  sand,  and  the  fruit  of  the  shad- 
bush  ovm  Amelanchier,  which  the  inhabitants  call  Josh- 
pears  (some  think  from  juicy  ?),  is  very  abundant  on  the 
hills.  I  fell  in  with  an  obliging  man  who  conducted  me 
to  the  best  locality  for  strawberries.  He  said  that  he 
would  not  have  shown  me  the  place  if  he  had  not  seen 
that  I  was  a  stranger,  and  could  not  anticipate  him  another 
year ;  I  therefore  feel  bound  in  honor  not  to  reveal  it. 
When  we  came  to  a  pond,  he  being  the  native  did  the 
honors  and  carried  me  over  on  his  shoulders,  like  Sind- 
bad.  One  good  turn  deserves  another,  and  if  he  evey 
comes  our  way  I  will  do  as  much  for  him. 

In  one  place  we  saw  numerous  dead  tops  of  trees 
projecting  through  the  otherwise  uninterrupted  desert, 
where,  as  we  afterward  learned,  thirty  or  forty  years 
before  a  flourishing  forest  had  stood,  and  now,  as  the 
trees  were  laid  bare  from  year  to  year,  the  inhabitants 
cut  off  their  tops  for  fuel. 

We  saw  nobody  that  day  outside  of  the  town ;  it  was 
too  wiutry  for  such  as  had  seen  the  Back-side  before,  or 
for  the  greater  number  who  never  desire  to  see  it,  to 
venture  out ;  and  we  saw  hardly  a  track  to  show  that 
any  had  ever  crossed  this  desert.  Yet  I  was  told  that 
some  are  always  out  on  the  Back-side  night  and  day  in 
severe  weather,  looking  for  wrecks,  in  order  that  they 
may  get  the  job  of  discharging  the  cargo,  or  the  like,  — 
and  thus  shipwrecked  men  are  succored.  But,  generally 
speaking,  the  inhabitants  nirely  visit  these  sands.  One 
who  had  lived  in  Provincetown  thirty  years  told  me 
that  he  had  not  been  through  to  the  north  side  within 
that  time.  Sometimes  the  natives  themselves  come 
near  perishing  by  losing  their  way  in  snow-storms  be- 
hind the  town. 


THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  189 

The  wind  was  not  a  Sirocco  or  Simoon,  such  as  we 
associate  with  the  desert,  but  a  New  England  north- 
easter, —  and  we  sought  shelter  in  vain  under  the  sand- 
hills, for  it  blew  all  about  them,  rounding  them  into 
cones,  and  was  sure  to  find  us  out  on  whichever  side 
we  sat.  From  time  to  time  we  lay  down  and  drank 
at  little  pools  in  the  sand,  filled  with  pure  fresh  water, 
all  that  was  left,  probably,  of  a  pond  or  swamp.  The 
air  was  filled  with  dust  like  snow,  and  cntting  sand 
which  made  the  face  tingle,  and  we  saw  what  it  must 
be  to  face  it  when  the  weather  was  drier,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, windier  still,  —  to  face  a  migrating  sand-bar  in  the 
air,  which  has  picked  up  its  duds  and  is  off,  —  to  be 
whipped  with  a  cat,  not  o'  nine-tails,  but  of  a  myriad 
of  tails,  and  each  one  a  sting  to  it.  A  Mr.  Whitman, 
a  former  minister  of  Wellfleet,  used  to  write  to  his  in- 
land friends  that  the  blowing  sand  scratched  the  win- 
dows so  that  he  was  obliged  to  have  one  new  pane  set 
every  week,  that  he  might  see  out. 

On  the  edge  of  the  shrubby  woods  the  sand  had  the 
appearance  of  an  inundation  which  was  overwhelming 
them,  terminating  in  an  abrupt  bank  many  feet  higher 
than  the  surface  on  which  they  stood,  and  havmg  pai-- 
tially  buried  the  outside  trees.  The  moving  sand-hills 
of  England,  called  Dunes  or  Downs,  to  which  these  have 
been  likened,  are  either  formed  of  sand  cast  up  by  the 
sea,  or  of  sand  taken  from  the  land  itself  in  the  first 
place  by  the  wind,  and  driven  still  farther  inward.  It 
is  here  a  tide  of  sand  impelled  by  waves  and  wind, 
slowly  flowing  from  the  sea  toward  the  town.  The 
northeast  winds  are  said  to  be  the  strongest,  but  the 
northwest  to  move  most  sand,  because  they  are  the 
driest.     On  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay  many  vil- 


190  CAPE  COD. 

lages  were  formerTy  destroyed  in  this  way.  Some  of 
the  ridges  of  beach-grass  which  we  saw  were  planted 
by  government  many  years  ago,  to  preserve  the  har- 
bor of  Provincetown  and  the  extremity  of  the  Cape. 
I  talked  with  some  who  had  been  employed  in  the  plant- 
ing. In  the  "  Description  of  the  Eastern  Coast,"  which 
I  have  already  referred  to,  it  is  said:  "Beach-grass 
during  the  spring  and  summer  grows  about  two  feet 
and  a  half.  If  surrounded  by  naked  beach,  the  storms 
of  autumn  and  winter  heap  up  the  sand  on  all  sides, 
and  cause  it  to  rise  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  plant.  In 
the  ensuing  spring  the  grass  sprouts  anew ;  is  again 
covered  with  sand  in  the  winter;  and  thus  a  hill  or 
ridge  continues  to  ascend  as  long  as  there  is  a  sufficient 
base  to  support  it,  or^till  the  circumscribing  sand,  being 
also  covered  with  beach-grass,  will  no  longer  yield  to  the 
force  of  the  winds."  Sand-hills  formed  in  this  way  are 
sometimes  one  hundred  feet  high  and  of  every  variety 
of  form,  like  snow-drifts,  or  Arab  tents,  and  are  con- 
tinually shifting.  The  grass  roots  itself  very  firmly. 
When  I  endeavored  to  pull  it  up,  it  usually  broke  off 
ten  inches  or  a  foot  below  the  surface,  at  what  had  been 
the  surface  the  year  before,  as  appeared  by  the  numer- 
ous offshoots  there,  it  being  a  straight,  hard,  round 
shoot,  showing  by  its  length  how  much  the  sand  had 
accumulated  the  last  year;  and  sometimes  the  dead 
stubs  of  a  previous  season  were*  pulled  up  with  it  from 
still  deeper  in  the  sand,  with  their  own  more  decayed 
shoot  attached,  —  so  that  the  age  of  a  sand-hill,  and  its 
rate  of  increase  for  several  years,  is  pretty  accurately 
recorded  in  this  way. 

Old  Gerard,  the  English  herbalist,  says,  p.  1250:."! 
find  mention  in  Stowe's  Chronicle,  in  Anno  1555,  of  a 


*      THE  SEA  AND  THE  DESERT.  191 

certain  pulse  or  pease,  as  they  term  it,  wherewith  the  poor 
people  at  that  time,  there  being  a  great  dearth,  were 
miraculously  helped :  he  thus  mentions  it.  In  the 
month  of  August  (saith  he),  in  Suffolke,  at  a  place 
by  the  sea  side  all  of  hard  stone  and  pibble,  called  in 
those  parts  a  shelf,  lying  between  the  towns  of  Orford 
and  Aldborough,  where  neither  grew  grass  nor  any 
earth  was  ever  seen;  it  chanced  in  this  barren  place 
suddenly  to  spring  up  without  any  tillage  or  sowing, 
great  abundance  of  peason,  whereof  the  poor  gathered 
(as  men  judged)  above  one  hundred  quarters,  yet  re- 
mained some  ripe  and  some  blossoming,  as  many  as  ever 
there  were  before :  to  the  which  place  rode  the  Bishop 
of  Norwich  and  the  Lord  Willoughby,  with  others  in 
great  number,  who  found  nothing  but  hard,  rocky  stone 
the  space  of  three  yards  under  the  roots  of  these  peason, 
which  roots  were  great  and  long,  and  very  sweet."  He 
tells  us  also  that  Gesner  learned  from  Dr.  Cajus  that 
there  were  enough  there  to  supply  thousands  of  men. 
He  goes  on  to  say  that  "  they  without  doubt  grew  there 
many  years  before,  but  were  not  observed  till  hunger 
made  them  take  notice  of  them,  and  quickened  their 
invention,  which  commonly  in  our  people  is  very  dull, 
especially  in  finding  out  food  of  this  nature.  My  wor- 
shipful friend  Dr.  Argent  hath  told  me  that  many 
years  ago  he  was  in  this  place,  and  caused  his  man 
to  pull  among  the  beach  with  his  hands,  and  follow 
the  roots  so  long  until  he  got  some  equal  in  length 
unto  his  height,  yet  could  come  to  no  ends  of  them." 
Gerard  never  saw  them,  and  is  not  certain  what  kind 
they  were. 

In  Dwight's  Travels  in  New  England  it  is  stated  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Truro  were  formerly  regularly  warned 


192  CAPE  COD. 

under  the  authority  of  law  in  the  month  of  April  yeariy, 
to  plant  beach-grass,  as  elsewhere  they  are  warned  to 
repair  the  highways.  They  dug  up  the  grass  in  bunches, 
which  were  afterward  divided  into  several  smaller  ones, 
and  set  about  three  feet  apart,  in  rows,  so  arranged  as 
to  break  joints  and  obstruct  the  passage  of  the  wind.  It 
spread  itself  rapidly,  the  weight  of  the  seeds  when  ripe 
bending  the  heads  of  the  grass,  and  so  dropping  directly 
by  its  side  and  vegetating  there.  In  this  way,  for  in- 
stance, they  built  up  again  that  part  of  the  Cape  be- 
tween Truro  and  Provincetown  where  the  sea  broke 
over  in  the  last  century.  They  have  now  a  public  road 
near  there,  made  by  laying  sods,  which  were  full  of 
roots,  bottom  upward  and  close  together  on  the  sand, 
double  in  the  middle  of  the  track,  then  spreading  brush 
evenly  over  the  sand  on  each  side  for  half  a  dozen  feet, 
planting  beach-grass  on  the  banks  in  -regular  rows,  as 
above  described,  and  sticking  a  fence  of  brush  against 
the  hollows. 

The  attention  of  the  general  government  was  first 
attracted  to  the  danger  which  threatened  Cape  Cod 
Harbor  from  the  inroads  of  the  sand,  about  thirty 
years  ago,  and  commissioners  were  at  that  time  ap- 
pointed by  Massachusetts  to  examine  the  premises. 
They  reported  in  June,  1825,  that,  owing  to  "  the  trees 
and  brush  having  been  cut  down,  and  the  beach-grass 
destroyed  on  the  seaward  side  of  the  Cape,  opposite  the 
Harbor,"  the  original  surface  of  the  ground  had  been 
broken  up  and  removed  by  the  wind  toward  the  Har- 
bor,—  during  the  previous  fourteen  years,  —  over  an 
extent  of  "  one  half  a  mile  in  breadth,  and  about  four 
and  a  half  miles  in  length."  —  "  The  space  where  a  few 
years  since  were  some  of  the  highest  la^jds  on  the  Cape, 


THE  SEA  AND   THE  DESERT.  193 

covered  with  trees  and  bushes,"  presenting  "  an  exten- 
sive waste  of  undulating  sand  " ;  —  and  that,  during  the 
previous  twelve  months,  the  sand  "  had  approached  the 
Harbor  an  average  distance  of  fifty  rods,  for  an  extent 
of  four  and  a  half  miles ! "  and  unless  some  measures 
were  adopted  to  check  its  progress,  it  would  in  a  few 
years  destroy  both  the  harbor  and  the  town.  They 
therefore  recommended  that  beach-grass  be  set  out  on 
a  curving  line  over  a  space  ten  rods  wide  and  four  and 
a  half  miles  long,  and  that  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep  be 
prohibited  from  going  abroad,  and  the  inhabitants  from 
cutting  the  brush. 

I  was  told  that  about  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  all  had 
been  appropriated  to  this  object,  though  it  was  com- 
plained that  a  great  part  of  it  was  spent  foolishly,  as  the 
public  money  is  wont  to  be.  Some  say  that  while  the 
government  is  planting  beach-grass  behind  the  town  for 
the  protection  of  the  harbor,  the  inhabitants  are  rolling 
the  safld  into  the  harbor  in  wheelbarrows,'  in  order  to 
make  house-lots.  The  Patent-Office  has  recently  im- 
ported the  seed  of  this  grass  from  Holland,  and  distrib- 
uted it  over  the  country,  but  probably  we  have  as  much 
as  the  Hollanders. 

Thus  Cape  Cod  is  anchored  to  .the  heavens,  as  it 
were,  by  a  myriad  little  cables  of  beach-grass,  and,  if 
they  should  fail,  would  become  a  total  wreck,  and  ere- 
long go  to  the  bottom.  Formerly,  the  cows  were  per- 
mitted to  go  at  large,  and  they  ate  many  strands  of 
the  cable  by  which  the  Cape  is  moored,  and  wellnigh 
set  it  adrift,  as  the  bull  did  the  boat  which  was  moored 
with  a  grass  rope ;  but  now  they  are  not  permitted  to 
wander. 

A  portion  of  Truro  which  has  conriderable  taxable 


194  CAPE   COD. 

property  on  it  has  lately  been  added  to  Provincetown, 
and  I  was  told  by  a  Truro  man  that  his  townsmen 
talked  of  petitioning  the  legislature  to  set  off  the  next 
mile  of  their  territory  also  to  Provincetown,  in  order 
that  she  might  have  her  share  of  the  lean  as  well  as 
the  fat,  and  take  care  of  the  road  through  it;  for  its 
whole  value  is  literally  to  hold  the  Cape  together,  and 
even  this  it  has  not  always  done.  But  Provincetown 
strenuously  declines  the  gift. 

The  wind  blowed  so  hard  from  the  northeast,  that, 
cold  as  it  was,  we  resolved  to  see  the  breakers  on  the 
Atlantic  side,  whose  din  we  had  heard  all  the  morning ; 
so  we  kept  on  eastward  through  the  Desert,  till  we  struck 
the  shore  again  northeast  of  Provincetown,  and  exposed 
ourselves  to  the  full  force  of  the  piercing  blast.  There 
are  extensive  shoals  there  over  which  the  sea  broke  with 
great  force.  For  half  a  mile  from  the  shore  it  was  one 
mass  of  white  breakers,  which,  with  the  wind,  made  such 
a  din  that  we  could  hardly  hear  ourselves  speak.  Of 
this  part  of  the  coast  it  is  said:  "A  northeast  storm, 
the  most  violent  and  fatal  to  seamen,  as  it  is  frequently 
accompanied  with  snow,  blows  directly  on  the  land:  a 
strong  current  sets  along  the  shore :  add  to  which  that 
ships,  during  the  operation  of  such  a  storm,  endeavor 
to  work  northward,  that  they  may  get  into  the  bay. 
Should  they  be  unable  to  weather  Race  Point,  the  wind 
drives  them  on  the  shore,  and  a  shipwreck  is  inevitable. 
Accordingly,  the  strand  is  everywhere  covered  with  the 
fragments  of  vessels."  But  since  the  Highland  Light 
was  erected,  this  part  of  the  coast  is  less  dangerous,  and 
it  is  said  that  more  shipwrecks  occur  south  of  that  light, 
where  they  were  scarcely  known  before. 

This  was  the  stormiest  sea  that  we  witnessed,  —  more 


THE   SEA  AND   THE    DESERT.  195 

tumultuous^  my  companion  aflfirmed,  than  the  rapids  of 
Niagara,  and,  of  course,  on  a  far  greater  scale.  It  was 
the  ocean  in  a  gale,  a  clear,  cold  day,  with  only  one  sail 
in  sight,  which  labored  much,  as  if  it  were  anxiously 
seeking  a  harbor.  It  was  high  tide  when  we  reached 
the  shore,  and  in  one  place,  for  a  considerable  distance, 
each  wave  dashed  up  so  high  that  it  was  difficult  to  pass 
between  it  and  the  bank.  Further  south,  where  the 
bank  was  higher,  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to 
attempt  it.  A  native  of  the  Cape  has  told  me,  that 
many  years  ago,  three  boys,  his  playmates,  having  gone 
to  this  beach  in  Wellfleet  to  visit  a  wreck,  when  the  sea 
receded  ran  down  to  the  wreck,  and  when  it  came  in 
ran  before  it  to  the  bank,  but  the  sea  following  fast 
at  their  heels,  caused  the  bank  to  cave  and  bury  them 
alive. 

It  was  the  roaring  sea,  BoKaaaa  Tjxrjca-aaj  — 

dficp).  8c  T  uKpai 
*HtW6ff  j3ooa>o-(v,  epevyofievrjs  d\6s  <^w. 

And  the  summits  of  the  bank 
Around  resound,  the  sea  being  vomited  forth. 

As  we  stood  looking  on  this  scene  we  were  gradually 
convinced  that  fishing  here  and  in  a  pond  were  not,  in 
all  respects,  the  same,  and  that  he  who  waits  for  fair 
weather  and  a  calm  sea  may  never  see  the  glancing  skin 
of  a  mackerel,  and  get  no  nearer  to  a  cod  than  the 
wooden  emblem  in  the  State-House. 

Having  lingered  on  the  shore  till  we  were  wellnigh 
chilled  to  death  by  the  wind,  and  were  ready  to  take 
shelter  in  a  Charity-house,  we  turned  our  weather-beaten 
faces  toward  Provincetown  and  the  Bay  again,  having 
now  more  than  doubled  the  Cape. 


X. 

PROVINCETOWN 


Early  the  next  morning  I  walked  into  a  fish-house 
near  our  hotel,  where  three  or  four  men  were  engaged 
in  trundling  out  the  pickled  fish  on  barrows,  and  spread- 
ing them  to  dry.  They  told  me  that  a  vessel  had  lately 
come  in  from  the  Banks  with  forty-four  thousand  codfish. 
Timothy  Dwight,says  that,  just  before  he  arrived  at 
Provincetown,  "a  schooner  came  in  from  the  Great 
Bank  with  fifty-six  thousand  fish,  almost  one  thousand 
five  hundred  quintals,  taken  in  a  single  voyage  ;  the 
main  deck  being,  on  her  return,  eight  inches  under  water 
in  calm  weather."  The  cod  in  this  fish-house,  just  out 
of  the  pickle,  lay  packed  several  feet  deep,  and  three 
or  four  men  stood  on  them  in  cowhide  boots,  pitching 
them  on  to  the  barrows  with  an  instrument  which  had  a 
single  iron  point.  One  young  man,  who  chewed  tobacco, 
spat  on  the  fish  repeatedly.  Well,  sir,  thought  I,  when 
that  older  man  sees  you  he  will  speak  to  you.  But 
presently  I  saw  the  older  man  do  the  same  thing.  It  re- 
minded me  of  the  figs  of  Smyrna.  "  How  long  does  it 
take  to  cure  these  fish  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Two  good  drying  days,  sir,"  was  the  answer. 

I  walked  across  the  street  again  into  the  hotel  to  break- 
fast, and  mine  host  inquired  if  I  would  take  "  hashed  fish 


PROVINCETOWN.  197 

or  beans."  I  took  beans,  though  they  never  were  a 
favorite  dish  of  mine.  I  found  next  summer  that  this 
was  still  the  only  alternative  proposed  here,  and  the  land- 
lord was  still  ringing  the  changes  on  these  two  words. 
In  the  former  dish  there  was  a  remarkable  proportion  of 
fish.  As  you  travel  inland  the  potato  predominates. 
It  chanced  that  I  did  not  taste  fresh  fish  of  any  kind  on 
the  Cape,  and  I  was  assured  that  they  were  not  so  much 
used  there  as  in  the  country.  That  is  where  they  are 
cured,  and  where,  sometimes,  travellers  are  cured  of  eating 
them.  No  fresh  meat  was  slaughtered  in  Provincetown, 
but  the  little  that  was  used  at  the  public  houses  was 
brought  from  Boston  by  the  steamer. 

A  great  many  of  the  houses  here  were  surrounded  by 
fish-flakes  close  up  to  the  silk  on  all  sides,  with  only  a 
narrow  passage  two  or  three  feet  wide,  to  the  front  door  ; 
so  that  instead  of  looking  out  into  a  flower  or  grass  plot, 
you  looked  on  to  so  many  square  rods  of  cod  turned 
wrong  side  outwards.  These  parterres  were  said  to  be 
least  like  a  flower-garden  in  a  good  drying  day  in  mid- 
summer. There  were  flakes  of  every  age  and  pattern, 
and  some  so  rusty  and  overgrown  with  lichens  that  they 
looked  as  if  they  might  have  served  the  founders  of  the 
fishery  here.  Some  had  broken  down  under  the  weight 
of  successive  harvests.  The  principal  employment  of 
the  inhabitants  at  this  time  seemed  to  be  to  trundle  out 
their  fish  and  spread  them  in  the  morning,  and  bring 
them  in  at  night.  I  saw  how  many  a  loafer  who  chanced 
to  be  out  early  enough,  got  a  job  at  wheeling  out  the  fish 
of  his  neighbor  who  was  anxious  to  improve  the  whole 
of  a  fair  day.  Now  then  I  knew  where  salt  fish  were 
caught.  They  were  everywhere  lying  on  their  backs, 
their  collar-bones  standing  out  like  the  lapels  of  a  man- 


198  CAPE  COD. 

o*-war-man*s  jacket,  and  inviting  all  things  to  come  and 
rest  in  their  bosoms  ;  and  all  things,  with  a  few  exceptions,' 
accepted  the  invitation.  I  think,  by  the  way,  that  if  you 
should  wrap  a  large  salt  fish  round  a  small  boy,  he  would 
have  a  coat  of  such  a  fashion  as  I  have  seen  many  a  one 
wear  to  muster.  Salt  fish  were  stacked  up  on  the 
wharves,  looking  like  corded  wood,  maple  and  yellow 
birch  with  the  bark  left  on.  I  mistook  them  for  this  at 
first,  and  such  in  one  sense  they  were,  —  fuel  to  maintain 
our  vital  fires,  —  an  eastern  wood  which  grew  on  the 
Grand  Banks.  Some  were  stacked  in  the  form  of  huge 
flower-pots,  being  laid  in  small  circles  with  the  tails  out- 
wards, each  circle  successively  larger  than  the  preceding 
until  the  pile  was  three  or  four  feet  high,  when  the  cir- 
cles rapidly  diminished,  so  as  to  form  a  conical  roof. 
On  the  shores  of  New  Brunswick  this  is  covered  with 
birch-bark,  and  stones  are  placed  upon  it,  and  being  thus 
rendered  impervious  to  the  rain,  it  is  left  to  season  before 
being  packed  for  exportation. 

It  is  rumored  that  in  the  fall  the  cows  here  are  some- 
times fed  on  cod's  heads  !  The  godhke  part  of  the  cod, 
which,  like  the  human  head,  is  curiously  and  wonderfully 
made,  forsooth  has  but  little  less  brain  In  it,  —  coming 
to  such  an  end  !  to  be  craunched  by  cows  !  I  felt  my 
own  skull  crack  from  sympathy.  What  if  the  heads  of 
men  were  to  be  cut  off  to  feed  the  cows  of  a  superior 
order  of  beings  who  inhabit  the  islands  in  the  ether  ? 
Away  goes  your  fine  brain,  the  house  of  thought  and  in- 
stinct, to  swell  the  cud  of  a  ruminant  animal  ! — How- 
ever, an  inhabitant  assured  me  that  they  did  not  make  a 
practice  of  feeding  cows  on  cod's  heads  ;  the  cows  merely 
would  eat  them  sometimes  ;  but  I  might  live  there  all  my 
days  and  never  see  it  done.     A  cow  wanting  salt  would 


PROVINCETOWN.  199 

also  sometimes  lick  out  all  the  soft  part  of  a  cod  on  the 
flakes.  This  he  would  have  me  believe  was  the  foun- 
dation of  this  fish-story. 

It  has  been  a  constant  traveller's  tale  and  perhaps 
slander,  now  for  thousands  of  years,  the  Latins  and 
Greeks  have  repeated  it,  that  this  or  that  nation  feeds 
its  cattle,  or  horses,  or  sheep,  on  fish,  as  may  be  seen  in 
CElian  and  Pliny,  but  in  the  Journal  of  Nearchus,  who 
was  Alexander's  admiral,  and  made  a  voyage  from  the 
Indus  to  the  Euphrates  three  hundred  and  twenty  six 
years  before  Christ,  it  is  said  that  the  inhabitants  of  a 
portion  of  the  intermediate  coast,  whom  he  called 
Icthyophagi  or  Fish-eaters,  not  only  ate  fishes  raw  and 
also  dried  and  pounded  in  a  whale's  vertebra  for  a  mor- 
tar and  made  into  a  paste,  but  gave  them  to  their  cattle, 
there  being  no  grass  on  the  coast ;  and  several  modern 
travellers,  —  Braybosa,  Niebuhr,  and  others  make  the 
same  report.  Therefore  in  balancing  the  evidence  I  am 
still  in  doubt  about  the  Provincetown  cows.  As  for 
other  domestic  animals,  Captain  King  in  his  continuation 
of  Captain  Cook's  Journal  in  1779,  says  of  the  dogs  of 
Kamtschatka,  "  Their  food  in  the  winter  consists  entirely 
of  the  head,  entrails,  and  backbones  of  salmon,  which 
are  put  aside  and  dried  for  that  purpose  ;  and  with  this 
diet  they  are  fed  but  sparingly."  (Cook's  Journal, 
Vol.  VII.  p.  315.) 

As  we  are  treating  of  fishy  matters,  let  me  insert 
what  Pliny  says,  that  "  the  commanders  of  the  fleets  of 
Alexander  the  Great  have  related  that  the  Gedrosi,  who 
dwell  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Arabis,  are  in  the  habit 
of  making  the  doors  of  their  houses  with  the  jaw-bones 
of  fishes,  and  raftering  the  roofs  with  their  bones."  Strabo 
tells  the  same  of  the  Ichthyophagi.      "  Hardouin   re- 


200  CAPE  COD. 

marks,  that  the  Basques  of  his  day  were  in  the  habit  of 
fencing  their  gardens  with  the  ribs  of  the  whale,  which 
sometimes  exceeded  twenty  feet  in  length ;  and  Cuvier 
says,  that  at  the  present  time  the  jaw-bone  of  the  whale 
is  used  in  Norway  for  the  purpose  of  making  beams  or 
posts  for  buildings."  (Bohn's  ed.  trans,  of  Pliny,  Vol.  II. 
p.  361.)  Herodotus  says  the  inhabitants  on  Lake  Pra- 
sias  in  Thrace  (living  on  piles),  "  give  fish  for  fodder  to 
their  horses  and  beasts  of  burden." 

Provincetown  was  apparently  what  is  called  a  flourish- 
ing town.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  asked  me  if  I  did 
not  think  that  they  appeared  to  be  well  off  generally.  I 
said  that  I  did,  and  asked  how  many  there  were  in  the 
almshouse.  "O,  only  one  or  two,  infirm  or  idiotic," 
answered  they.  The  outward  aspect  of  the  houses  and 
shops  frequently  suggested  a  poverty  which  their  interior 
comfort  and  even  richness  disproved.  You  might  meet 
a  lady  daintily  dressed  in  the  Sabbath  morning,  wading 
in  among  the  sand-hills,  from  church,  where  there  ap- 
peared no  house  fit  to  receive  her,  yet  no  doubt  the 
interior  of  the  house  answered  to  the  exterior  of  the 
lady.  As  for  the  interior  of  the  inhabitants  I  am  still  in 
the  dark  about  it.  I  had  a  little  intercourse  with  some 
whom  I  met  in  the  street,  and  was  often  agreeably  dis- 
appointed by  discovering  the  intelligence  of  rough,  and 
what  would  be  considered  unpromising  specimens.  Nay, 
I  ventured  to  call  on  one  citizen  the  next  summer, 
by  special  invitation.  I  found  him  sitting  in  his  front 
doorway,  that  Sabbath  evening,  prepared  for  me  to  come 
in  unto  him ;  but  unfortunately  for  his  reputation  for 
keeping  open  house,  there  was  stretched  across  his  gate- 
way a  circular  cobweb  of  the  largest  kind  and  quite  en- 
tire. This  looked  so  ominous  that  I  actually  turned 
aside  and  went  in  the  back  way. 


PROVmCETOWN.  201 

This  Monday  morning  was  beautifully  mild  and  calm, 
both  on  land  and  water,  promising  us  a  smooth  passage 
across  the  Bay,  and  the  fishermen  feared  that  it  would 
not  be  so  good  a  drying  day  as  the  cold  and  windy  one 
wJiich  preceded  it.  There  could  hardly  have  been  a 
greater  contrast.  This  was  the  first  of  the  Indian  sum- 
mer days,  though  at  a  late  hour  in  the  morning  we  found 
the  wells  in  the  sand  behind  the  town  still  covered  with 
ice,  which  had  formed  in  the  night.  What  with  wind 
and  sun  my  most  prominent  feature  fairly  cast  its  slough. 
But  I  assure  you  it  will  take  more  than  two  good  drying 
days  to  cure  me  of  rambling.  After  making  an  excur- 
sion among  the  hills  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Shank- 
Painter  Swamp,  and  getting  a  little  work  done  in  its  line, 
we  took  our  seat  upon  the  highest  sand-hill  overlooking 
the  town,  in  mid  air,  on  a  long  plank  stretched  across 
between  two  hillocks  of  sand,  where  some  boys  were  en- 
deavoring in  vaii^  to  fly  their  kite  ;  and  there  we 
remained  the  rest  of  that  forenoon  looking  out  over  the 
placid  harbor,  and  watching  for  the  first  appearance  of 
the  steamer  from  Wellfleet,  that  we  might  be  in  readiness 
to  go  on  board  when  we  heard  the  whistle  off  Long 
Point. 

We  got  what  we  could  out  of  the  boys  in  the  mean- 
while. Provincetown  boys  are  of*  course  all  sailors  and 
have  sailors'  eyes.  When  we  were  at  the  Highland 
Light  the  last  summer,  seven  or  eight  miles  from  Prov- 
incetown Harbor,  and  wished  to  know  one  Sunday  morn- 
ing if  the  Olata,  a  well-known  yacht,  had  got  in  from 
Boston,  so  that  we  could  return  in  her,  a  Provincetown 
boy  about  ten  years  old,  who  chanced  to  be  at  the  table, 
remarked  that  she  had.  I  asked  him  how  he  knew. 
"  I  just  saw  her  come  in,"  said  he.  When  I  expressed 
9* 


202  ^  CAPE  COD. 

surprise  that  he  could. distinguish  her  from  other  vessels 
so  far,  he  said  that  there  were  not  so  many  of  those 
two-topsail  schooners  about  but  that  he  could  tell  her. 
Palfrey  said,  in  his  oration  at  Barnstable,  the  duck  does 
not  take  to  the  water  with  a  surer  instinct  than  the 
Barnstable  boy.  [He  might  have  said  the  Cape  Cod 
boy  as  well.]  He  leaps  from  his  leading-strings  into 
the  shrouds,  it  is  but  a  bound  from  the  mother's  lap 
to  the  masthead.  He  boxes  the  compass  in  his  infant 
soliloquies.  He  can  hand,  reef,  and  steer  by  the  time 
he  flies  a  kite. 

This  was  the  very  day  one  would  have  chosen  to  sit 
upon  a  hill  overlooking  sea  and  land,  and  muse  there. 
The  mackerel  fleet  was  rapidly  taking  its  departure,  one 
schooner  after  another,  and  standing  round  the  Cape, 
like  fowls  leaving  their  roosts  in  the  morning  to  disperse 
themselves  in  distant  fields.  The  turtle-like  sheds  of  the 
salt-works  were  crowded  into  ever^i  nook  in  the  hills, 
immediately  behind  the  town,  and  their  now  idle  wind- 
mills lined  the  shore.  It  was  worth  the  while  to  see  by 
what  coarse  and  simple  chemistry  this  almost  necessary 
of  life  is  obtained,  with  the  sun  for  journeyman,  and  a 
single  apprentice  to  do  the  chores  for  a  large  establish- 
ment. It  is  a  sort  of  tropical  labor,  pursued  too  in  the 
sunniest  season  ;  more  interesting  than  gold  or  diamond- 
washing,  which,  I  fancy,  it  somewhat  resembles  at  a  dis- 
tance. In  the  production  of  the  necessaries  of  life  Na- 
ture is  ready  enough  to  assist  man.  So  at  the  potash 
works  which  I  have  seen  at  Hull,  where  they  burn  the 
stems  of  the  kelp  and  boil  the  ashes.  Verily,  chemistry 
is  not  a/  splitting  of  hairs  when  you  have  got  half  a  dozen 
raw  Irishmen  in  the  laboratory.  It  is  said,  that  owing 
to  the  reflection  of  the  sun  from  the  sand-hills,  and  there 


PROVmCETOWN.  203 

being  absolutely  no  fresh  water  emptying  into  the  harbor, 
the  same  number  of  superficial  feet  yields  more  salt  here 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  county.  A  little  rain  is 
considered  necessary  to  clear  the  air,  and  make  salt  fast 
and  good,  for  as  paint  does  not  dry,  so  water  does  not 
evaporate  in  dog-day  weather.  But  they  were  now,  as 
elsewhere  on  the  Cape,  breaking  up  their  salt-works  and 
selling  them  for  lumber. 

From  that  elevation  we  could  overlook  the  operations 
of  the  inhabitants  almost  as  completely  as  if  the  roofs 
had  been  taken  off.  They  were  busily  covering  the 
wicker-worked  flakes  about  their  houses  with  salted  fish, 
and  we  now  saw  that  the  back  yards  were  improved  for 
this  purpose  as  much  as  the  front ;  where  one  man's  fish 
ended  another's  began.  In  almost  every  yard  we  detected 
some  little  building  from  which  these  treasures  were 
being  trundled  forth  and  systematically  spread,  and  we 
saw  that  there  was  an  art  as  well  as  a  knack  even  in 
spreading  fish,  and  that  a  division  of  labor  was  profit- 
ably practised.  One  man  was  withdrawing  his  fishes  a 
few  inches  beyond  the  nose  of  his  neighbor's  cow  which 
had  stretched  her  neck  over  a  paling  to  get  at  them.  It 
seemed  a  quite  domestic  employment,  like  dryiijg  clothes, 
and  indeed  in  some  parts  of  the  county  the  women  take 
part  in  it. 

I  noticed  in  several  places  on  the  Cape  a  sort  of 
clothes^o^es.  They  spread  brush  on  the  ground,  and 
fence  it  round,  and  then  lay  their  clothes  on  it,  to  keep 
them  from  the  sand.     This  is  a  Cape  Cod  clothes-yard. 

The  sand  is  the  great  enemy  here.  The  tops  of  some 
of  the  hills  were  enclosed  and  a  board  put  up  forbidding 
all  persons  entering  the  enclosure,  lest  their  feet  should 
disturb  the  sand,  and  set  it  a-blowinoj  or  a-sliding.     The 


204  CAPE  COD. 

inhabitants  are  obliged  to  get  leave  from  the  authorities 
to  cut  wood  behind  the  town  for  fish-flakes,  bean-poles, 
pea-brush,  and  the  *  hke,  though,  as  we  were  told,  they 
may  transplant  trees  from  one  part  of  the  township  to 
anpther  without  leave.  The  sand  drifts  like  snow,  and 
sometimes  the  loWer  story  of  a  house  is  concealed  by  it, 
though  it  is  kept  ofi*  by  a  wall.  The  houses  were  for- 
merly built  on  piles,  in  order  that  the  driving  sand  might 
pass  under  them.  We  saw  a  few  old  ones  here  still 
standing  on  their  piles,  but  they  were  boarded  up  now, 
being  protected  by  their  younger  neighbors.  There  was 
a  school-house,  just  under  the  hill  on  which  we  sat,  filled 
with  sand  up  to  the  tops  of  the  desks,  and  of  course  the 
master  and  scholars  had  fled.  Perhaps  they  had  im- 
prudently left  the  windows  open  one  day,  or  neglected  to 
mend  a  broken  pane.  Yet  in  one  place  was  advertised 
"  Fine  sand  for  sale  here,"  —  I  could  hardly  believe  my 
eyes,  —  probably  some  of  the  street  sifted,  —  a  good  in- 
stance of  the  fact  that  a  man  confers  a  value  on  the  most 
worthless  thing  by  mixing  himself  with  it,  according  to 
which  rule  we  must  have  conferred  a  value  on  the  whole 
backside  of  Cape  Cod;  —  but  I  thought  that  if  they 
could  have  advertised  "  Fat  Soil,"  or  perhaps  "  Fine 
sand  got  rid  of,"  ay,  and  "  Shoes  emptied  here,"  it  would 
have  been  more  alluring.  As  we  looked  down  on  the 
town,  I  thought  that  I  saw  one  man,  who  probably  lived 
beyond  the  extremity  of  the  planking,  steering  and  tack- 
ing for  it  in  a  sort  of  snow-shoes,  but  I  may  have  been 
mistaken.  In  some  pictures  of  Provincetown  the  per- 
sons of  the  inhabitants  are  not  drawn  below  the  ancles, 
so  much  being  supposed  to  be  buried  in  the  sand.  Nev- 
ertheless, natives  of  Provincetown  assured  me. that  they 
could  walk  in  the  middle  of  the  road  without  trouble 


PROVINCETOWN.  205 

even  in  slippers,  for  they  had  learned  how  to  put  their 
feet  down  and  lift  them  up  without  taking  in  any  sand. 
One  man  said  that  he  should  be  surprised  if  he  found 
half  a  dozen  grains  of  sand  in  his  pumps  at  night,  and 
stated,  moreover,  that  the  young  ladies  had  a  dexterous 
way  of  emptying  their  shoes  at  each  step,  which  it  would 
take  a  stranger  a  long  time  to  learn.  The  tires  of  the 
stage-wheels  were  about  five  inches  wide  ;  and  the  wagon- 
tires  generally  on  the  Cape  are  an  inch  or  two  wider, 
as  the  sand  is  an  inch  or  two  deeper  than  elsewhere.  I 
saw  a  baby's  wagon  with  tires  six  inches  wide  to  keep  it 
near  the  surface.  The  more  tired  the  wheels,  the  less 
tired  the  horses.  Yet  all  the  time  that  we  were  in  Prov- 
incetown,  which  was  two  days  and  nights,  we  saw  only 
one  horse  and  cart,  and  they  were  conveying  a  cofl&n. 
They  did  not  try  such  experiments  there  on  common 
occasions.  The  next  summer  I  saw  only  the  two-wheeled 
horse-cart  which  conveyed  me  thirty  rods  into  the  harbor 
on  my  way  to  the  steamer.  Yet  we  read  that  there  were 
two.  horses  and  two  yoke  of  oxen  here  in  1791,  and  we 
were  told  that  there  were  several  more  when  we  were 
there,  beside  the  stage  team.  In  Barber's  Historical  Col- 
•lections,  it  is  said,  "  so  rarely  are  wheel-carriages  seen  in 
the  place  that  they  are  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  to  the 
younger  part  of  the  community.  A  lad  who  understood 
navigating  the  ocean  much  better  than  land  travel,  on  see- 
ing a  man  driving  a  wagon  in  the  street,  expressed  his 
surprise  at  his  being  able  to  drive  so  straight  without  the 
assistance  of  a  rudder."  There  was  no  rattle  of  carts,  and 
there  would  have  been  no  rattle  if  there  had  been  any 
carts.  Some  saddle-horses  that  passed  the  hotel  in  the 
evening  merely  made  the  sand  fly  with  a  rustling  sound 
like  a  writer  sanding  his  paper  copiously,  but  there  was  no 


206  CAPE  COD. 

sound  of  their  tread.  No  doubt  there  are  more  horses 
and  carts  there  at  present.  A  sleigh  is  never  seen,  or  at 
least  is  a  great  novelty  on  the  Cape,  the  snow  being 
either  absorbed  by  the  sand  or  blown  into  drifts. 

Nevertheless,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  generally 
do  not  complain  of  their  "  soil,"  but  will  tell  you  that 
it  is  good  enough  for  them  to  dry  their  fish  on. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  sand,  we  counted  three  meet- 
ing-houses, and  four  school-houses  nearly  as  large,  on 
this  street,  though  some  had  a  tight  board  fence  about 
them  to  preserve  the  plot  within  level  and  hard.  Simi- 
lar fences,  even  within  a  foot  of  many  of  the  houses, 
gave  the  town  a  less  cheerful  and  hospitable  appear- 
ance than  it  would  otherwise  have  had.  They  told 
us  that,  on  the  whole,  the  sand  had  made  no  progress 
for  the  last  ten  years,  the  cows  being  no  longer  per- 
mitted to  go  at  large,  and  every  "means  being  taken 
to  stop  the  sandy  tide. 

In  1727  Provincetown  was  "invested  with  peculiar 
privileges,"  for  its  encouragement.  Once  or  twice  it 
was  nearly  abandoned ;  but  now  lots  on  the  street  fetch 
a  high  price,  though  titles  to  them  were  first  obtained 
by  possession  and  improvement,  and  they  are  still 
transferred  by  quitclaim  deeds  merely,  the  township 
being  the  property  of  the  State.  But  though  lots  were 
so  valuable  on  the  street,  you  might  in  many  places 
throw  a  stone  over  them  to  where  a  man  could  still 
obtain  land  or  sand  by  squatting  on  or  improving  it. 

Stones  are  very  rare  on  the  Cape.  I  saw  a  very 
few  small  stones  used  for  pavements  and  for  bank 
walls,  in  one  or  two  places  in  my  walk,  but  they  are 
so  scarce,  that,  as  I  was  informed,  vessels  have  been 
forbidden  to  take  them  from  the  beach  for  ballast,  and 


PROVINCETOWN.  207 

therefore  their  crews  used  to  land  at  night  and  steal 
them.  I  did  not  hear  of  a  rod  of  regular  stone  wall 
below  Orleans.  Yet  I  saw  one  man  underpinning  a 
new  house  in  Eastham  with  some  "  rocks,"  as  he  called 
them,  which  he  said  a  neighbor  had  collected  with  great 
pains  in  the  course  of  years,  and  finally  made  over  to  > 
him.  This  I  thought  was  a  gift  worthy  of  being  re- 
corded,—  equal  to  a  transfer  of  California  "rocks," 
almost.  Another  man  who  was  assisting  him,  and  who 
seemed  to  be  a  close  observer  of  nature,  hinted  to  me 
the  locality  of  a  rock  in  that  neighborhood  which  was 
"  forty-two  paces  in  circumference  and  fifteen  feet  high," 
for  he  saw  that  I  was  a  stranger,  and,  probably,  would 
not  carry  it  off.  Yet  I  suspect  that  the  locahty  of  the 
few  large  rocks  on  the  forearm  of  the  Cape  is  well 
known  to  the  inhabitants  generally.  I  even  met  with 
one  man  who  had  got  a  smattering  of  mineralogy,  but 
where  he  picked  It  up  I  could  not  guess.  I  thought 
that  he  would  meet  with  some  interesting  geological 
nuts  for  him  to  cracky  if  he  should  ever  visit  the  main- 
land, Cohasset  or  Marblehead,  for  instance. 

The  well  stones  at  the  Highland  Light  were  brought 
from .  Hingham,  but  the  wells  and  cellars  of  the  Cupe 
are  generally  built  of  brick,  which  also  are  imported. 
The  cellars,  as  well  as  the  v/ells,  are  made  in  a  circular 
form,  to  prevent  the  sand  from  pressing  in  the  wall. 
The  former  are  only  from  nine  to  twelve  feet  in  diam- 
eter, and  are  said  to  be  very  cheap,  since  a  single  tier 
of  brick  will  suflBce  for  a  cellar  of  even  larger  dimen- 
sions. Of  course,  if  you  live  in  the  sand,  you  will  not 
require  a  large  cellar  to  hold  your  roots.  In  Province- 
town,  when  formerly  they  suffered  the  sand  to  drive 
under  their  tiouses,  obliterating  all  rudiment  of  a  cellar. 


208  CAPE  COD. 

they  did  not  raise  a  vegetable  to  put  into  one.  One 
farmer  in  Wellfieet,  who  raised  fifty  bushels  of  potatoes, 
showed  me  his  cellar  under  a  comer  of  his  house,  not 
more  than  nine  feet  in  diameter,  looking  like  a  cistern ; 
but  he  had  another  of  the  same  size  under  his  barn. 

You'  need  dig  only  a  few  feet  almost  anywhere  near 
the  shore  of  the  Cape  to  find  fresh  water.  But  that 
which  we  tasted  was  invariably  poor,  though  the  inhab- 
itants called  it  good,  as  if  they  were  comparing  it  with 
salt  water.  In  the  account  of  Truro,  it  is  said,  "  Wells 
dug  near  the  shore  are  dry  at  low  water,  or  rather  at 
what  is  called  young  flood,  but  are  replenished  with  the 
flowing  of  the  tide,"  —  the  salt  water,  which  is  lowest 
in  the  sand,  apparently  forcing  the  fresh  up.  When 
you  express  your  surprise  at  the  greenness  of  a  Prov- 
incetown  garden  on  the  beach,  in  a  dry  season,  they  will 
sometimes  tell  you  that  the  tide  forces  the  moisture  up 
to  them.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  low  sand-bars  in 
the  midst  of  the  ocean,  perhaps  even  those  which  are 
laid  bare  only  at  low  tide,  are  reservoirs  of  fresh  water 
at  which  the  thirsty  mariner  can  supply  himself.  They 
appear,  like  huge  sponges,  to  hold  the  rain  and  dew 
which  fall  on  them,  and  which,  by  capillary  attrac- 
tion, are  prevented  from  mingling  with  the  surround- 
ing brine. 
■^  The  Harbor  of  Provincetown  —  which,  as  well  as 
the  greater  part  of  the  Bay,  and  a  wide  expanse  of 
ocean,  we  overlooked  from  our  perch  —  is  deservedly 
famous.  It  opens  to  the  south,  is  free  from  rocks,  and 
is  never  frozen  over.  It  is  said  that  the  only  ice  seen 
in.  it  drifts  in  sometimes  from  Barnstable  or  Plymouth. 
D wight  remarks  that  "  The  storms  which  prevail  on  the 
American  coast  generally  come  from  the  east ;  and  there 


PROVINCETOWN.  209 

is  no  other  harbor  on  a  windward  shore  within  two  hui> 
dred  miles."  J.  D.  Graham,  who  has  made  a  very 
minute  and  thorough  survey  of  this  harbor  and  the 
adjacent  waters,  states  that  "  its  capacity,  depth  of  water, 
excellent  anchorage,  and  the  complete  shelter  it  ^ords 
from  all  winds,  combine  to  render  it  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable ship  harbors  on  our  coast."  It  is  the  harbor  of  the 
Cape  and  of  the  fishermen  of  Massachusetts  generally. 
It  was  known  to  navigators  several  years  at  least  before 
the  settlement  of  Plymouth.  In  Captain  John  Smith's 
map  of  New  England,  dated  1614,  it  bears  the  name  of 
ISIilford. Haven,  and  Massachusetts  Bay  that  of  Stuard's 
Bay.  His  Highness,  Prince  Charles,  changed  the  name 
of  Cape  Cod  to  Cape  James  ;  but  even  princes  have  not 
always  power  to  change  a  name  for  the  worse,  and  as 
Cotton  Mather  said.  Cape  Cod  is  "  a  name  which  I  sup- 
pose it  will  never  lose  till  shoals  of  codfish  be  seen  swim- 
ming on  its  highest  hiUs." 

Many  an  early  voyager  was  unexpectedly  caught  by 
this  hook,  and  found  himself  embayed.  On  successive 
maps.  Cape  Cod  appears  sprinkled  over  with  French, 
Dutch,  and  English  names,  as  it  made  part  of  New 
France,  New  Holland,  and  New  England.  On  one 
map  Provincetown  Harbor  is  called  "  Fuic  (bownet  ?) 
Bay,"  Barnstable  Bay  "  Staten  Bay,"  and  the  sea  north 
of  it  "  Mare  del  Noort,"  or  the  North  Sea.  On  another, 
the  extremity  of  the  Cape  is  called  "  Staten  Hoeck,"  or 
the  States  Hook.  On  another,  by  Young,  this  has 
Noord  Zee,  Staten  hoeck  or  Hit  hoeck,  but  the  copy 
at  Cambridge  has  no  date ;  the  whole  Cape  is  called 
"  Niew  HoUant "  (after  Hudson)  ;  and  on  another  still, 
the  shore  between  Race  Point  and  Wood  End  ap- 
pears to  be  culled  "  Bevechier."     In  Champlain's  admi- 

N 


210  CAPE  COD. 

rable  Map  of  New  France,  including  the  oldest  recog- 
nizable map  of  what  is  now  the  New  England  coast 
with  which  I  am  acquainted,  Cape  Cod  is  called  G. 
Blan  (i.  e.  Cape  White),  from  the  color  of  its  sands, 
and  Massachusetts  Bay  is  Baye  Blanche.  It  was  vis- 
ited by  De  Monts  and  Champlain  in  1605,  and  the  next 
year  was  further  explored  by  Poitrincourt  and  Cham- 
plain.  The  latter  has  given  a  particular  account  of  these 
explorations  in  his  "Voyages,"  together  with  separate 
charts  and  soundings  of  two  of  its  harbors,  —  Malle 
Barre,  the  Bad  Bar  (Nauset  Harbor?),  a  name  now 
applied  to  what  the  French  called  Gap  Baturier,  —  and 
Port  Fortune,  apparently  Chatham  Harbor.  Both  these 
names  are  copied  on  the  map  of  "Novi  Belgii,"  in 
Ogilby's  America.  He  also  describes  minutely  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  savages,  and  represents  by  a 
plate  the  savages  surprising  the  French  and  killing  five 
or  six  of  them.  The  French  afterward  killed  some  of 
the  natives,  and  wished,  by  way  of  revenge,  to  carry 
oflf  some  and  make  them  grind  in  their  hand-mill  at 
Port  Royal. 

It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  not  in  English  any  ade- 
quate or  correct  account  of  the  French  exploration  of 
what  is  now  the  coast  of  New  England,  between  1604 
and  1608,  though  it  is  conceded  that  they  then  made  the 
first  permanent  European  settlement  on  the  continent 
of  North  America  north  of  St.  Augustine.  If  the  lions 
had  been  the  painters  it  would  have  been  otherwise. 
This  omission  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  partly  by 
the  fact  that  the  early  edition  of  Champlain's  "  Voyages  " 
had  not  been  consulted  for  this  purpose.  This  contains 
by  far  the  most  particular,  and,  I  think,  the  most  inter- 
esting chapter  of  what  we  may  call  the  Ante-Pilgrim 


PROVINCETOWN.  211 

history  of  New  England,  extending  to  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pages  quarto ;  but  appears  to  be  unknown  equally 
to  the  historian  and  the  orator  on  Plymouth  Rock. 
Bancroft  does  not  mention  Champlain  at  all  among  the 
authorities  for  De  Monts*  expedition,  nor  does  he  say 
that  he  ever  visited  the  coast  of  New  England.  Though 
he  bore  the  title  of  pilot  to  De  Monts,  he  was,  in  an- 
other sense,  the  leading  spirit,  as  well  as  the  historian 
of  the  expedition.  Holmes,  Hildreth,  and  Barry,  and 
apparently  all  our  historians  who  mention  Champlain, 
refer  to  the  edition  of  1632,  in  which  all  the  separate 
charts  of  our  harbors,  &c.,  and  about  one  half  the  narra- 
tive, are  omitted ;  for  the  author  explored  so  many  lands 
afterward  that  he  could  afford  to  forget  a  part  of  what 
he  had  done.  Hildreth,  speaking  of  De  Monts's  expe- 
dition, says  that  "he  looked  into  the  Penobscot  [in 
1605],  which  Pring  had  discovered  two  years  before," 
saying  nothing  about  Champlain's  extensive  exploration 
of  it  for  De  Monts  in  1604  (Holmes  says  1608,  and 
refers  to  Purchas) ;  also  that  he  followed  in  the  track 
of  Pring  along  the  coast  "to  Cape  Cod,  which  he 
called  Malabarre."  (Haliburton  had  made  the  same 
statement  before  him  in  1829.  He  called  it  Cap 
Blanc,  and  Malle  Barre  (the  Bad  Bar)  was  the  name 
given  to  a  harbor  on  the  east  side  of  the  Cape.) 
Pring  says  nothing  about  a  river  there.  Belknap 
says  that  Weymouth  discovered  it  in  1605.  Sir  F. 
Gorges  says,  in  his  narration  (Maine  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol. 
II.  p.  19),  1658,  that  Pring  in  1606  "made  a  per- 
fect discovery  of  all  the  rivers  and  harbors."  This 
is  the  most  I  can  fiifd.  Bancroft  makes  Champlain  to 
have  discovered  more  western  rivers  in  Maine,  not 
naming  the  Penobscot ;  he,  however,  must  have  been 


212  CAPE  COD. 

the  discoverer  of  distances  on  this  river  (see  Belknap, 
p.  147).  Pring  was  absent  from  England  only  about 
six  months,  and  sailed  by  this  part  of  Cape  Cod  (Male- 
barre)  because  it  yielded  no  sassafras,  while  the  French, 
who  probably  had  not  heard  of  Pring,  were  patiently 
for  years  exploring  the  coast  in  search  of  a  place  of  set- 
tlement, sounding  and  surveying  its  harbors. 

John  Smith's  map,  published  in  1616,  from  observa- 
tions in  1614-15,  is  by  many  regarded  as  the  oldest 
map  of  New  England.  It  is  the  first  that  was  made 
after  this  country  was  called  New  England,  for  he  so 
called  it;  but  in  Champlain's  "Voyages,"  edition  1613, 
(and  Lescarbot,  in  1612,  quotes  a  still  earlier  account 
of  his  voyage,)  there  is  a  map  of  it  made  when  it  was 
known  to  Christendom  as  New  France,  called  Carte 
Geographique  de  la  Nouvelle  Franse  faictte  par  le  Sieur 
de  Champlain  Saint  Tongois  Cappitaine  ordinaire  pour 
le  Toi  en  la  Marine^ — faict  ten  1612,  from  his  obser- 
vations between  1604  and  1607  ;  a  map  extending  from 
Labrador  to  Cape  Cod  and  westward  to  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  crowded  with  information,  geographical,  ethnograph- 
ical, zoological,  and  botanical.  He  even  gives  the  vari- 
ation of  the  compass  as  observed  by  himself  at  that  date 
on  many  parts  of  the  coast.  This,  taken  together  with 
the  many  separate  charts  of  harbors  and  their  soundings 
on  a  large  scale,  which  this  volume  contains,  —  among 
the  rest.  Qui  ni  he  quy  (Kennebec),  Ghouacoit  R. 
(Saco  R.),  Le  Beau  port,  Port  St.  Louis  (near  Cape 
Ann),  and  others  on  our  coast,  —  but  which  are  not 
in  the  edition  of  1632,  makes  this  a  completer  map 
of  the  New  England  and  adjaceht  northern  coast  than 
was  made  for  half  a  century  afterward,  almost,  we  might 
be  allowed  to  say,  till  another  Frenchman,  Des  Barres, 


PROVTNCETOWN.  *        213 

made  another  for  us,  which  only  our  late  Coast  Survey 
has  superseded.  Most  of  the  maps  of  this  coast  made 
for  a  long  time  after  betray  their  indebtedness  to  Cham- 
plain.  He  was  a  skilful  navigator,  a  man  of  science,  and 
geographer  to  the  King  of  France.  He  crossed  the 
Atlantic  about  twenty  times,  and  made  nothing  of  it ; 
often  in  a  small  vessel  in  which  few  would  dare  to  go 
to  sea  to-day ;  and  on  one  occasion  making  the  voyage 
from  Tadoussac  to  St.  Malo  in  eighteen  days.  He  was 
in  this  neighborhood,  that  is,  between  Annapolis,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Cape  Cod,  observing  the  land  and  its  inhab- 
itants, and  making  a  map  of  the  coast,  from  May,  1604, 
to  September,  1 607,  or  about  three  and  a  half  years,  and 
he  has  described  minutely  his  method  of  surveying  har- 
bors. By  his  own  account,  a  part  of  his  map  was  en- 
graved in  1604  (?).  When  Pont-Gravt^  and  others 
returned  to  France  in  1606,  he  remained  at  Port  Royal 
with  Poitrincourt,  *'  in  order,"  says  he,  "  by  the  aid  of 
God,  to  finish  the  chart  of  the  coasts  which  I  had 
begun";  and  again  in  his  volume,  printed  before  John 
Smith  visited  this  part  of  America,  he  says :  "  It  seems 
to  me  that  I  have  done  my  duty  as  far  as  I  could,  if  I 
have  not  forgotten  to  put  in  my  said  chart  whatever 
I  saw,  and  give  a  particular  knowledge  to  the  public 
of  what  had  never  been  described  nor  discovered  so 
particularly  as  I  have  done  it,  although  some  other  may 
have  heretofore  written  of  it ;  but  it  was  a  very  small 
affiiir  in  comparison  with  what  we  have  discovered 
within  the  last  ten  years." 

It  is  not  generally  remembered,  if  known,  by  the 
descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  that  when  their  forefathers 
were  spending  their  first  memorable  winter  in  the  New 
World,  they  had  for  neighbors  a  colony  of  French  no 


214  ■  CAPE  COD. 

further  off  than  Port  Royal  (Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia), 
three  hundred  milos  distant  (Prince  seems  to  make  it 
about  five  hundred  miles)  ;  where,  in  spite  of  many- 
vicissitudes,  they  had  been  for  fifteen  years.  They 
built  a  grist-mill  there  as  early  as  1606;  also  made 
bricks  and  turpentine  on  a  stream,  Williamson  says,  in 
1606.  De  Monts,  who  was  a  Protestant,  brought  his 
minister  with  him,  who  came  to  blows  with  the  Catholic 
priest  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Though  these  founders 
of  Acadie  endured  no  less  than  the  Pilgrims,  and  about 
the  same  proportion  of  them —  thirty-five  out  of  seventy- 
nine  (Williamson's  Maine  says  thirty-six  out  of  sev-' 
enty)  — died  the  first  winter  at  St.  Croix,  1604-5,  six- 
teen years  earlier,  no  orator,  to  my  knowledge,  has  ever 
celebrated  their  enterprise  (Williamson's  History  of 
Maine  does  considerably),  while  the  trials  which  their 
successors  and  descendants  endured  at  the  hands  of  the 
English  have  furnished  a  theme  for  both  the  historian 
and  poet.  (See  Bancroft's  History  and  Longfellow's 
Evangeline.)  The  remains  of  their  fort  at  St.  Croix 
were  discovered  at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  and 
helped  decide  where  the  true  St.  Croix,  our  boundary, 
was. 

The  very  gravestones  of  those  Frenchmen  are  prob- 
ably older  than  the  oldest  English  monument  in  New 
England  north  of  the  Elizabeth  Islands,  or  perhaps  any- 
where in  New  England,  for  if  there  are  any  traces 
of  Gosnold's  storehouse  left,  his  strong  works  are  gone. 
Bancroft"  says,  advisedly,  in  1834,  "It  requires  a  believ- 
ing eye  to  discern  the  ruins  of  the  fort "  ;  and  that  there 
were  no  ruins  of  a  fort  in  1837.  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son tells  me  that,  in  the  course  of  a  geological  survey 
in  1827,  he  discovered  a  gravestone,  a  slab  of  trap  rock, 


PROVINCETOWN.  215 

on  Goat  Island,  opposite  Annapolis  (Port  Royal),  in 
Nova  Scotia,  bearing  a  Masonic  coat-of-arms  and  the 
date  1606,  which  is  fourteen  years  earlier  than  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  This  was  left  in  the  possession 
of  Judge  Haliburton,  of  Nova  Scotia. 

There  were  Jesuit  priests  in  what  has  since  been 
called  New  England,  converting  the  savages  at  Mount 
Desert,  then  St.  Savior,  in  1613, -^having  come  over 
to  Port  Royal  in  1611,  though  they  were  almost  imme- 
diately interrupted  by  the  English,  years  before  the 
Pilgrims  came  hither  to  enjoy  their  own  religion.  This 
according  to  Champlain.  Charlevoix  says  the  same  ;  and 
after  coming  from  France  in  1611,  went  west  from  Port 
Royal  along  the  coast  as  fiir  as  the  Kennebec  in  1612, 
and  was  often  carried  from  Port  Royal  to  Mount  Desert. 

Indeed,  the  Englishman's  history  of  New  England  com- 
mences, only  when  it  ceases  to  be,  New  France.  Though 
Cabot  was  the  firjst  to  discover  the' continent  of  North 
America,  Champlain,  in  the  edition  of  his  "Voyages" 
printed  in  1 632,  after  the  English  had  for  a  season  got 
possession  of  Quebec  and  Port  Royal,  complains  with  no 
little  justice :  "  The  common  consent  of  all  Europe  is  to 
represent  New  France  as  extending  at  least  to  the  thirty- 
fifth  and  thirty-sixth  degrees  of  latitude,  as  appears  by 
the  maps  of  the  world  printed  in  Spain,  Italy,  Holland, 
Flanders,  Germany,  and  England,  until  they  possessed 
themselves  of  the  coasts  of  New  France,  where  are 
Arcadie,  the  Etchemins  (Maine  and  New  Brunswick), 
the  Almouchicois  (Massachusetts  ?),  and  the  Great  River 
St.  Lawrence,  where  they  have  imposed,  according  to 
their  fancy,  such  names  as  New  England,  Scotland,  and 
others ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  efface  the  memory  of  a 
thing  which  is  known  to  all  Christendom." 


216  CAPE  COD. 

That  Cabot  merely  landed  on  the  uninhabitable  shore 
of  Labrador,  gave  the  English  no  just  title  to  New 
England,  or  to  the  United  States  generally,  any  more 
than  to  Patagonia.  His  careful  biographer  (Biddle) 
is  not  certain  in  what  voyage  he  ran  down  the  coast 
of  the  United  States,  as  is  reported,  and  no  one  tells 
us  what  he  saw.  Miller,  in  the  New  York  Hist. 
Coll.,  Vol.  I.  p.  28,  says  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
landed  anywhere.  Contrast  with  this  Verrazzani's  tar- 
rying fifteen  days'  at  one  place  on  the  New  England 
coast,  and  making  frequent  excursions  into  the  interior 
thence.  It  chances  that  the  latter's  letter  to  Francis  I., 
in  1524,  contains  "the  earliest  original  account  extant 
of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States " ;  and  even 
from  that  time  the  northern  part  of  it  began  to  be  called 
La  Terra  Francese,  or  French  Land.  A  part  of  it 
was  called  New  Holland  before  it  was  called  New  Eng- 
land. The  English  were  very  backward  to  explore  and 
settle  the  continent  which  they  had  stumbled  upon.  The 
French  preceded  them  both  in  their  attempts  to  colonize 
the  continent  of  North  America  (Carolina  and  Florida, 
1562-4),  and  in  their  first  permanent  settlement  (Port 
Royal,  1605) ;  and  the  right  of  possession,  naturally 
enough,  was  the  one  which  England  mainly  respected 
and  recognized  in  the  case  of  Spain,  of  Portugal,  and 
also  of  France,  from  the  time  of  Henry  VIT. 

The  explorations  of  the  French  gave  to  the  world  the 
first  valuable  maps  of  these  coasts.  Denys  of  Honfleur 
made  a  map  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  in  1506.  No 
sooner  had  Cartier  explored  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1535, 
than  there  began  to  be  published  by  his  countrymen  re- 
markably accurate  charts  of  that  river  as  far  up  as  Mon- 
treal.    It  is  almost  all  of  the  continent  north  of  Florida 


PROVINCETOWN.  217 

that  you  recognize  on  charts  for  more  than  a  generation 
afterward,  —  though  Verrazzani's  rude  plot  (made  under 
French  auspices)  was  regarded  by  Hackluyt,  more 
than  fifty  years  after  his  voyage  (in  1524),  as  the 
most  accurate  representation  of  our  coast.  The  French 
ti'ail  is  distinct.  They  went  measuring  and  sounding, 
and  when  they  got  home  had  something  to  show  for 
their  voyages  and  explorations.  There  was  no  danger 
of  their  charts  being  lost,  as  Cabot's  have  been. 

The  most  distinguished  navigators  of  that  day  were 
Italians,  or  of  Italian  descent,  and  Portuguese.  The 
French  and  Spaniards,  though  less  advanced  in  the 
science  of  navigation  than  the  former,  possessed  more 
imagination  and  spirit  of  adventure  than  the  English, 
and  were  better  fitted  to  be  the  explorers  of  a  new  con- 
tinent even  as  late  as  1751. 

This  spirit  it  was  which  so  early  carried  the  French 
to  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  on  the  north,  and 
the  Spaniard  to  the  same  river  on  the  south.  It  was 
long  before  our  frontiers  reached  their  settlements  in  the 
west,  and  a  voyageur  or  coureur  de  hois  is  still  our  con- 
ductor there.  Prairie  is  a  French  word,  as  Sierra  is 
a  Spanish  one.  Augustine  in  Florida,  and  Santa  Fe 
in  New  Mexico  [1582],  both  built  by  the  Spaniards, 
are  considered  the  oldest  towns  in  the  United  States. 
Within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  man,  the  Anglo- 
Americans  were  confined  between  the  Apalachian 
Mountains  and  the  sea,  "a  space  not  two  hundred 
miles  broad,"  while  the  Mississippi  was  by  treaty  the 
eastern  boundary  of  New  France.  (See  the  pamphlet 
on  settling  the  Ohio,  London,  1763,  bound  up  with  the 
travels  of  Sir  John  Bartrara.)  So  far  as  inland  discov- 
ery was  concerned,  the  adventurous  spirit  of  the  English 
10 


218  CAPE  COD. 

was  that  of  sailors  who  land  but  for  a  day,  and  their  en- 
terprise the  enterprise  of  traders.  Cabot  spoke  like  an 
Englishman,  as  he  was,  if  he  said,  as  one  report^,  in 
reference  to  the  discovery  of  the  American  Continent, 
when  he  found  it  running  toward  the  north,  that  it  was 
a  great  disappointment  to  him,  being  in  his  way  to 
India ;  but  we  would  rather  add  to  than  detract  from 
the  fame  of  so  great  a  discoverer. 

Samuel  Penhallow,  in  his  History  (Boston,  1726), 
p.  51,  speaking  of  "  Port  Royal  and  Nova  Scotia,**  says 
of  the  last,  that  its  "  first  seizure  was  by  Sir  Sebastian 
Cobbet  for  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  in  the  reign 
of  King  Henry  VH.;  but  lay  dormant  till  the  year 
1621,"  when  Sir  WiUiam  Alexander  got  a  patent  of  it, 
and  possessed  it  some  years  ;  and  afterward  Sir  David 
Kirk  was  proprietor  of  it,  but  erelong,  "  to  the  surprise 
of  all  thinking  men,  it  was  given  up  unto  the  French.** 

Even  as  late  as  1633  we  find  Winthrop,  the  first 
Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  who  was  not  the 
most  likely  to  be  misinformed,  who,  moreover,  has  the 
fame^  at  least,  of  having  discovered  Wachusett  Moun- 
tain (discerned  it  forty  miles  inland),  talking  about  the 
"  Great  Lake  '*  and  the  "  hideous  swamps  about  it,"  near 
which  the  Connecticut  and  the  "  Potomack  '*  took  their 
rise ;  and  among  the  memorable  'events  of  the  year 
1642  he  chronicles  Darby  Field,  an  Irishman's  expe- 
dition to  the  "  White  hill,"  from  whose  top  he  saw  east- 
ward what  he  "judged  to  be  the  Gulf  of  Canada,"  and 
westward  what  he  "judged  to  be  the  great  lake  which 
Canada  River  comes  out  of,**  and  where  he  found  much 
"Muscovy  glass,"  and  "could  rive  out  pieces  of  forty 
feet  long  and  seven  or  eight  broad.'*  While  the  very 
inhabitants  of  New  England  were  thus  fabling  about  the 


PROVINCETOWN.  219 

country  a  hundred  miles  inland,  which  was  a  terra  incog- 
nita to  them,  —  or  rather  many  years  before  the  earliest 
date  referred  to,  —  Champlain,  the^rs^  Governor  of  Can- 
ada, not  to  mention  the  inland  discoveries  of  Cartier,* 
Roberval,  and  others,  of  the  preceding  century,  and  his 
own  earlier  voyage,  had  already  gone  to  war  against 
the  Iroquois  in  their  forest  forts,  and  penetrated  to  the 
Great  Lakes  and  wintered  there,  before  a  Pilgrim  had 
heard  of  New  England.  In  Champlain 's  "Voyages," 
printed  in  1613,  there  is  a  plate  representing  a  fight  in 
which  he  aided  the  Canada  Indians  against  the  Iroquois, 
near  the  south  end  of  Lake  Champlain,  in  July,  1609, 
eleven  years  before  the  settlement  of  Plymouth.  Ban- 
croft says  he  joined  the  Algonquins  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  in  the  nortlrwest 
of  New  York.  This  is  that  "  Great  Lake,"  which  the 
English,  hearing  some  rumor  of  from  the  French,  long 
after,  locate  in  an  "  Imaginary  Province  called  Laconia, 
and  spent  several  years  about  1630  in  the  vain  attempt 
to  discover."  (Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges,  in  Maine  Hist. 
Coll.,  Vol.  n.  p.  68.)  Thomas  Morton  has  a  chapter  on 
this  "  Great  Lake."  In  the  edition  of  Champlain's  map 
dated  1632,  the  Falls  of  Niagara  appear;  and  in  a  great 
lake  northwest  of  Mer  Douce  (Lake  Huron)  there  is  an 
island  represented,  over  which  is  written,  ^  Isle  ou  il 
y  a  une  mine  de  cuivre,''  —  "Inland  where  there  is  a 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  the  first,  if  not  the  only,  part  of  New  Eng- 
land which  Cartier  saw  was  Vermont  (he  also  saw  the  mountains 
of  New  York),  from  Montreal  Mountain,  in  1535,  sixty-seven  years 
before  Gosnold  saw  Cape  Cod.  If  ueing  is  cUscovtring,  —  and  that 
is  all  that  it  is  proved  that  Cabot  knew  of  the  coast  of  the  United 
States, —  then  Cartier  (to  omit  Verrazzani  and  Gomez)  was  the  dis- 
coverer of  New  England  rather  than  Gosnold,  who  is  commonly 
60  styled. 


220  CAPE  COD. 

mine  of  copper."  This  will  do  for  an  offset  to  our  Gov- 
ernor's «  Muscovy  Glass.'*  Of  all  these  adventures  and 
discoveries  we  have  a  minute  and  faithful  account,  giv- 
ing facts  ajid  dates  as  well  as  charts  and  soundings,  all 
scientific  and  Frenchman-like,  with  scarcely  one  fable 
or  traveller's  story. 

Probably  Cape  Cod  was  visited  by  Europeans  long 
before  the  seventeenth  century.  It  may  be  that  Cabot 
himself  beheld  it.  Verrazzani,  in  1524,  according  to  his 
own  account,  spent  fifteen  days  on  our  coast,  in  latitude 
41°  40',  (some  suppose  in  the  harbor  of  Newport,)  and 
often  went  five  or  six  leagues  into  the  interior  there,  and 
he  says  that  he  sailed  thence  at  once  one  hundred  and 
fifty  leagues  northeasterly,  always  in  sight  of  the  coast. 
There  is  a  chart  in  Hackluyt's  "  Divers  Voyages,"  made 
according  to  Verrazzani's  plot,  which  last  is  praised  for 
its  accuracy  by  Hackluyt,  but  I  cannot  distinguish  Cape 
Cod  on  it,  unless  it  is  the  "  C.  Arenas,"  which  is  in  the 
right  latitude,  though  ten  degrees  west  of  "  Claudia," 
which  is  thought  to  be  Block  Island. 

The  "  Biographic  Universelle  "  informs  us  that  "  An 
ancient  manuscript  chart  drawn  in  1529  by  Diego  Ri- 
beiro,  a  Spanish  cosmographer,  has  preserved  the  mem- 
ory of  the  voyage  of  Gomez  [a  Portuguese  sent  out 
by  Charles  the  Fifth].  One  reads  in  it  under  {au 
dessous)  the  place  occupied  by  the  States  of  New  York, 
Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  Terre  ctEtienne  Go- 
mez, quHl  decouvrit  en  1525  (Land  of  Etienne  Gomez, 
which  he  discovered  in  1525)."  This  chart,  with  a  me- 
moir, was  published  at  Weimar  in  the  last  century. 

Jean  Alphonse,  Roberval's  pilot  in  Canada  in  1642, 
one  of  the  most  skilful  navigators  of  his  time,  and  who 
has  given  remarkably  minute  and  accurate  direction  for 


PROVINCETOWN.  221 

sailing  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  showing  that  he  knows  what 
he  is  talking  about, *says  in  his  "  Houtter"  (it  is  in  Hack- 
luyt),  "1  have  been  at  a  bay  as  far  as  the  forty-second  de- 
gree, between  Norimbegue  [the  Penobscot  ?]  and  Florida, 
but  I  have  not  explored  the  bottom  of  it,  and  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  passes  from  one  land  to  the  other,"  i.  e. 
to  A^sia.  ("  J'ai  ete  a  une  Baye  jusques  par  les  42*  degres 
entre  la  Norimbegue  et  la  Floride  ;  mais  je  n'en  ai  pas 
cherch^  le  fond,  et  ne  S9ais  pas  si  elle  passe  d'uue  terre  b. 
I'autre.")  This  may  refer  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  if  not 
possibly  to  the  western  inchnation  of  the  coast  a  little 
farther  south.  When  he  says,  "  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  Norimbegue  enters  into  the  river  of  Canada,"  he  is 
perhaps  so  interpreting  some  account  which  the  Indians 
had  given  respecting  the  route  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  Atlantic,  by  the  St.  John,  or  Penobscot,  or  possibly 
even  the  Hudson  River. 

We  hear  rumors  of  this  country  of  "  Norumbega  "  and 
its  great  city  from  many  quarters.  In  a  discourse  by  a 
great  French  sea-captain  in  Ramusio's  third  volume 
(1556-65),  this  is  said  to  be  the  name  given  to  the  land 
by  its  inhabitants,  and  Verrazzani  is  called  the  discoverer 
of  it;  another  in  1607  makes  the  natives  call  it,  or  the 
river,  Aguncia.  It  is  represented  as  an  island  on  an 
accompanying  chart.  It  is  frequently  spoken  of  by  old 
writers  as  a  country  of  indefinite  extent,  between  Canada 
and  Florida,  and  it  appears  as  a  large  island  with  Capo 
Breton  at  its  eastern  extremity,  on  the  map  made  accord- 
ing to  Verrazzani's  plot  in  Hackluy*'  "  Divers  Voyages." 
These  maps  and  rumors  may  have  been  the  origin  of 
the  notion,  common  among  the  early  settlers,  that  New 
England  was  an  island.  The  country  and  city  of  No- 
rumbega appear  about  where  Maine  now  is  on  a  map  in 


222  CAPE   COD. 

Ortelius  ("Theatrura  Orbis  Terrarum,"  Antwerp,  1570), 
and  the  "  R.  Grande  "  is  drawn  where  the  Penobscot  or 
St.  John  might  be. 

In  1604,  Champlain  being  sent  by  the  Sieur  de 
Monts  to  explore  the  coast  of  Norumbegue,  sailed  up 
the  Penobscot  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  leagues  from 
"  Isle  Haute,"  or  till  he  was  stopped  by  the  falls.  He 
says  :  "  I  think  that  this  river  is  that  which  many  pilots 
and  historians  call  Norembegue,  and  which  the  greater 
part  have  described  as  great  and  spacious,  with  numer- 
ous islands  ;  and  its  entrance  in  the  forty-third  or  forty- 
third  and  one  half,  or,  according  to  others,  the  forty-fourth 
degree  of  latitude,  more  or  less."  He  is  convinced  that 
"  the  greater  part "  of  those  who  speak  of  a  great  city 
there  have  never  seen  it,  but  repeat  a  mere  rumor,  but  he 
thinks  that  some  have  seen  the  mouth  of  the  river  since 
it  answers  to  their  description. 

Under  date  of  1 607  Champlain  writes :  "  Three  or 
four  leagues  north  of  the  Cap  de  Poitrincourt  [near  the 
head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  in  Nova  Scotia]  we  found  a 
cross,  which  was  very  old,  covered  with  moss  and  almost 
all  decayed,  which  was  an  evident  sign  that  there  had 
formerly  been  Christians  there." 

Also  the  following  passage  from  Lescarbot  will  show 
how  much  the  neighboring  coasts  were  frequented  by 
Europeans  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Speaking  of  his  re- 
turn from  Port  Royal  to  France  in  1 607,  he  says  :  "  At 
last,  within  four  leagues  of  Campseau  [the  Gut  of  Canso], 
we  arrived  at  a  harbor  [in  Nova  Scotia],  where  a  worthy 
old  gentleman  from  St.  John  de  Lus,  named  Captain 
Savale,  was  fishing,  who  received  us  with  the  utmost 
courtesy.  And  as  this  harbor,  which  is  small,  but  very 
good,  has  no  name,  I  have  given  it  on  my  geographical 


PROVINCETOWN.  223 

chart  the  name  of  Savalet."  [It  is  on  Champlain's 
map  also.]  This  worthy  man  told  us  that  tliis  voyage 
was  the  forty-second  which  he  had  made  to  those  parts, 
and  yet  the  Newfoundlanders  [Terre  neuviers]  make 
only  one  a  year.  He  was  wonderfully  content  with 
his  fishery,  and  informed  us  that  he  made  daily  fifty 
crowns'  worth  of  cod,  and  that  his  voyage  would  be 
worth  ten  thousand  francs.  He  had  sixteen  men  in 
his  employ ;  and  his  vessel  was  of  eighty  tons,  which 
could  carry  a  hundred  thousand  dry  cod."  (Histoire 
de  la  Nouvelle  France,  1612.)  They  dried  their  fish 
on  the  rocks  on  shore. 

The  "  Isola  della  Rena  "  (Sable  Island  ?)  appears  on 
the  chart  of  "  Nuova  Francia  "  and  Norumbega,  accom- 
panying the  "Discourse**  above  referred  to  in  Ramusio*s 
third  volume,  edition  1556-65.  Champlain  speaks  of 
there  being  at  the  Isle  of  Sable,  in  1604,  "  grass  pastured 
by  oxen  (bceufs)  and  cows  which  the  Portuguese  carried 
there  more  than  sixty  years  ago,"  i.  e.  sixty  years  before 
1613  ;  in  a  later  edition  he  says,  which  came  out  of  a 
Spanish  vessel  which  was  lost  in  endeavoring  to  settle 
on  the  Isle  of  Sable  ;  and  he  states  that  De  la  Roche's 
men,  who  were  left  on  this  island  seven  years  from  1598, 
lived  on  the  flesh  of  these  cattle  which  they  found  **  en 
guantte"  and  built  houses  out  of  the  wrecks  of  vessels 
which  came,  to  the  island  ("  perhaps  Gilbert's "),  there 
being  no  wood  or  stone.  Lescarbot  says  that  they  lived 
"on  fish  and  the  milk  of  cows  left  there  about  eighty  years 
before  by  Baron  de  Leri  and  Saint  Just."  Charlevoix 
says  they  ate  up  the  cattle  and  then  lived  on  fish.  Hali- 
burton  speaks  of  cattle  left  there  as  a  rumor.  De  Leri 
and  Saint  Just  had  suggested  plans  of  colonization  on 
the  Isle  of  Sable  as  early  as  1515  (1508  ?). according  to 


224  CAPE  COD. 

Bancroft,  referring   to  Charlevoix.      These  are  but  a 
few  of  the  instances  which  I  might  quote. 

Cape  Cod  is  commonly  said  to  have  been  discovered 
in  1602.  We  will  consider  at  length  under  what  cir- 
cumstances, and  with  what  observation  and  expectations, 
the  first  Englishmen  whom  history  clearly  discerns  ap- 
proached the  coast  of  New  England.  According  to 
the  accounts  of  Archer  and  Brereton  (both  of  whom 
accompanied  Gosnold),  on  the  26th  of  March,  1602, 
old  style,  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold  set  sail  from 
Falmouth,  Kngland,  for  the  North  Part  of  Virginia,  in 
a  small  bark  called  the  Concord,  they  being  in  all,  says 
one  account,  "  thirty-two  persons,  whereof  eight  mariners 
and  sailors,  twelve  purposing  upon  tjie  discovery  to  re- 
turn with  the  ship  for  England,  the  rest  remain  there  for 
population."  This  is  regarded  as  "  the  first  attempt  of 
the  English  to  make  a  settlement  within  the  limits  of 
New  England."  Pursuing  a  new  and  a  shorter  course 
than  the  usual  one  by  the  Canaries,  "the '14th  of  April 
following  "  they  had  sight  of  Saint  Mary's,  an  island  of 
the  Azores."  As  their  sailors  were  few  and  "  none  of 
the  best,"  (I  use  their  own  phrases,)  and  they  were 
"  going  upon  an  unknown  coast,"  they  were  not  "  over- 
bold to  stand  in  with  the  shore  but  in  open  weather" ;  so 
they  made  their  first  discovery  of  land  with  the  lead. 
The  23d  of  April  the  ocean  appeared  yellow,  but  on  tak- 
ing up  some  of  the  water  in  a  bucket,  "it  altered  not 
either  in  color  or  taste  from  the  sea  azure."  The  7th 
of  May  they  saw  divers  birds  whose  names  they  knew, 
and  many  others  in  their  "  English  tongue  of  no  name." 
The  8th  of  May  "the  water  changed  to  a  yellowish 
green,  where  at  seventy  fathoms  "  they  "  had  ground." 
The  9th,  they  had  upon   their  lead  "  many  glittering 


PEOVINCETOWN.  225 

stones,"  —  "  which  might  promise  some  mineral  matter 
in  the  bottom."  The  10th,  they  were  over  a  bank 
which  they  thought  to  be  near  the  western  end  of  St. 
John's  Island,  and  saw  schools  of  fish.  The  12th, 
they  say,  "continually  passed  fleeting  by  us  sea-oare, 
which  seemed  to  have  their  movable  course  towards 
the  northeast."  On  the  13th,  they  observed  "  great 
beds  of  weeds,  much  wood,  and  divers  things  else  float- 
ing by,"  and  "  had  smelling  of  the  shore  much  as  from 
the  southern  Cape  and  Andalusia  in  Spain."  On  Fri- 
day, the  14th,  early  in  the  morning  they  descried  land 
on  the  north,  in  the  latitude  of  forty-three  degrees,  ap- 
parently some  part  of  the  coast  of  Maine.  William- 
eon  (History  of  Maine)  says  it  certainly  could  not 
have  been  south  of  the  central  Isle  of  Shoals.  Bel- 
knap inclines  to  think  it  the  south  side  of  Cape  Ann. 
Standing  fair  along  by  the  shore,  about  twelve  o'clock 
the  siime  day,  they  Ciime  to  anchor  and  were  visited  by 
eight  savages,  who  came  off  to  them  "  in  a  Biscay  shallop, 
with  sail  and  oars,"  —  "an  iron  grapple,  and  a  kettle 
of  copper."  These  they  at  first  mistook  for  "  Chris- 
tians distressed."  One  of  them  was  "  apparelled  with 
a  waistcoat  and  breeches  of  black  serge,  made  after  our 
sea-fashion,  hoes  and  shoes  on  his  feet ;  all  the  rest 
(saving  one  that  had  a  pair  of  breeches  of  blue  cloth) 
were  naked."  They  appeared  to  have  had  dealings  with 
"  some  Basques  of  St.  John  de  Luz,  and  to  understand 
much  more  than  we,"  say  the  English,  "for  want  of 
language,  could  comprehend."  But  they  soon  "  set  sail 
westward,  leaving  them  and  their  coast."  (This  was  a 
remarkable  discovery  for  discoverers.) 

"The  loth  day,"   writes   Gabriel   Archer,  "we  had 
again  sight  of  the  land,  which  made  ahead,  being  as  we 
10  *  o 


226  CAPE  COD. 

thought  an  island,  by  reason  of  a  large  sound  that  ap- 
peared westward  between  it  and  the  main,  for  coming  to 
the  west  end  thereof,  we  did  perceive  a  large  opening, 
we  called  it  Shoal  Hope.  Near  this  cape  we  came  to 
anchor  in  fifteen  fathoms,  where  we  took  great  store  of 
cod-fish,  for  which  we  altered  the  name  and  called  it 
Cape  Cod.  Here  we  saw  skulls  of  herring,  mackerel, 
and  other  small  fish,  in  great  abundance.  This  is  a  low 
sandy  shoal,  but  without  danger  ;  also  we  came  to  anchor 
again  in  sixteen  fathoms,  fair  by  the  land  in  the  latitude 
of  forty-two  degrees.  This  Cape  is  well  near  a  mile 
broad,  and  lieth  northeast  by  east.  The  Captain  went 
here  ashore,  and  found  the  ground  to  be  full  of  peas,  straw- 
berries, whortleberries,  &c.,  as  then  unripe,  the  sand  also 
by  the  shore  somewhat  deep  ;  the  firewood  there  by  us 
taken  in  was  of  cypress,  birch,  witch-hazel,  and  beach.  . 
A  young  Indian  came  here  to  the  captain,  armed  with 
his  bow  and  arrows,  and  had  certain  plates  of  copper 
hanging  at  his  ears  ;  he  showed  a  willingness  to  help  us 
in  our  occasions." 

"  The  16th  we  trended  the  coast  southerly,  which  was 
all  champaign  and  full  of  grass,  but  the  islands  some- 
what woody." 

Or,  according  to  the  account  of  John  Brereton,  "  rid- 
ing here,"  that  is  where  they  first  communicated  with  the 
natives,  "  in  no  very  good  harbor,  and  withal  doubting 
the  weather,  about  three  of  the  clock  the  same  day  in 
the  afternoon  we  weighed,  and  standing  southerly  off 
into  sea  the  rest  of  that  day  and  the  night  following,  with 
a  fresh  gale  of  wind,  in  the  morning  we  found  ourselves 
embayed  with  a  mighty  headland;  but  coming  to  an 
anchor  about  nine  of  the  clock  the  same  day,  within 
a  league  of  the  shore,  we  hoisted  out  the  one  half  of  our 


PROVINCETOWN.  227 

shallop,  and  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  myself  and 
three  others,  went  ashore,  being  a  white  sandy  and  very 
bold  shore ;  and  marching  all  that  afternoon  with  our 
muskets  on  our  necks,  on  the  highest  hills  which  we  saw 
(the  weather  very  hot),  at  length  we  perceived  this 
headland  to  be  parcel  of  the  main,  and  sundry  islands 
lying  almost  round  about  it ;  so  returning  towards  even- 
ing to  our  shallop  (for  by  that  time  the  other  part  was 
brought  ashore  and  set  together),  we  espied  an  Indian, 
a  young  man  of  proper  stature,  and  of  a  pleasing  coun- 
tenance, and  after  some  famiharity  with  him,  we  left  him 
at  the  sea  side,  and  returned  to  our  ship,  where  in  five 
or  six  hours'  absence  we  had  pestered  our  ship  so  with 
codfish,  that  we  threw  numbers  of  them  overboard  again : 
and  surely  I  am  persuaded  that  in  the  months  of  March, 
April,  and  May,  there  is  upon  this  coast  better  fishing, 
and  in*  as  great  plenty,  as  in  Newfoundland  ;  for  the 
skulls  of  mackerel,  herrings,  cod,  and  other  fish,  that  we 
daily  saw  as  we  went  and  came  from  the  shore,  were 
wonderful,"  &c. 

"  From  this  place  we  sailed  round  about  this  headland, 
almost  all  the  points  of  the  compass,  the  shore  very  bold  ; 
but  as  no  coast  is  free  from  dangers,  so  I  am  persuaded 
this  is  as  free  as  any.  The  land  somewhat  low,  full  of 
goodly  woods,  but  in  some  places  plain." 

It  is  not  quite  clear  on  which  side  of  the  Cape  they 
landed.  If  it  was  inside,  as  would  appear  from  Brere- 
ton's  words,  ^*From  this  place  we  sailed  round  about 
this  headland  almost  all  the  points  of  the  compass,"  it 
must  have  been  on  the  western  shore  either  of  Truro  or 
Wellfleet,  To  one  sailing  south  into  Barnstable  Bay 
along  the  Cape,  the  only  "  white,  sandy,  and  very  bold 
shore "  that  appears  is  in  these  towns,  though  the  bank 


228  CAPE  COD. 

is  not  so  high  there  as  on  the  eastern  side.  At  a  distance 
of  four  or  five  r.iiles  the  sandy  cliffs  there  look  hke  a 
long  fort  of  yellow  sandstone,  they  are  so  level  and 
regular,  especially  in  Wellfleet,  —  the  fort  of  the  land 
defending  itself  against  the  encroachments  of  the  Ocean. 
They  are  streaked  here  and  there  with  a  reddish  sand 
las  if  painted.  Farther  south  the  shore  is  more  flat,  and 
less  obviously  and  abruptly  sandy,  and  a  little  tinge  of 
green  here  and  there  in  the  marshes  appears  to  the 
sailor  like  a  rai-e  and  precious  emerald.  But  in  the 
Journal  of  Pring's  Voyage  the  next  year  (and  Salterne, 
who  was  with  Pring,  had  accompanied  Gosnold)  it  is 
said,  "  Departing  hence  [i.  e.  from  Savage  Rocks]  we 
bore  unto  that  great  gulf  which  Captain  Gosnold  over- 
shot the  year  before."  * 

So  they  sailed  round  the  Cape,  calling  the  south- 
easterly extremity  "  Point  Cave,"  till  they  came  to  an 
island  which  they  named  Martha's  Vineyard  (now  called 
No  Man's  Land),  and  another  on  which  they  dwelt 
awhile,  which  they  named  Elizabeth's  Island,  in  honor 
of  the  queen,  one  of  the  group  since  so  called,  now 
known  by  its  Indian  name  Cuttyhunk.  There  they 
built  a  small  storehouse,  the  first  house  built  by  the 
English  in  New  England,  whose  cellar  could  recently 
still  be  seen,  made  partly  of  stones  taken  from  the  beach. 
Bancroft  says  (edition  of  1837),  the  ruins  of  the  fort 
can  no  longer  be  discerned.     They  who  were  to  have 

*  "  Savage  Rock,"  which  some  have  supposed  to  be,  from  tlie 
name,  the  Salvages,  a  ledge  about  two  miles  off  Rockland,  Capo 
Ann,  was  probably  the  Nubble,  a  large,  high  rock  near  the  shore,  on 
the  east  side  of  York  Harbor,  Maine.  The  first  land  made  by  Gos- 
nold is  presumed  by  experienced  navigators  to  be  Cape  Elizabeth, 
on  the  same  coast.  (See  Babson's  History  of  Gloucester,  Massachu- 
tietts.) 


PKOVINCETOWN.  229 

remained  becoming  discontented,  all  together  set  sail  for 
England  with  a  load  of  sassafras  and  other  commodities, 
on  the  18th  of  June  following. 

The  next  year  came  Martin  Pring,  looking  for  sassa- 
fras, and  thereafter  they  began  to  come  thick  and  fast, 
until  long  after  sassafras  had  lost  its  reputation. 

These  are  the  oldest  accounts  which  we  have  of  Cape 
Cod,  unless,  perchance,  Cape  Cod  is,  as  some  suppose, 
the  same  witli  that  "  Kial-ar-nes "  or  Keel-Cape,  on 
which,  according  to  old  Icelandic  manuscripts,  Thorwald, 
son  of  Eric  the  Red,  after  sailing  many  days  southwest 
from  Greenland,  broke  his  keel  in  the  year  1004 ;  and 
where,  according  to  another,  in  some  respects  less  trust- 
worthy manuscript,  Thor-tinn  Karlsefue  ("'  that  is,  one 
who  promises  or  is  destined  to  be  an  able  or  great  man  " ; 
he  is  said  to  have  had  a  s^on  bom  in  New  England,  from 
whom  Thorwaldsen  the  sculptor  was  descended),  sailing 
past,  in  the  year  10C7,  with  his  wife  Gudrida,  Snorre 
Thorbrandson,  Biarne  Grinolfson,  and  Thorhall  Garnla- 
son,  distinguished  Norsemen,  in  three  ships  containing 
"  one  hundred  and  sixty  men  and  all  sorts  of  live  stock  " 
(probably  the  first  Norway  rats  among  the  rest),  having 
the  land  "  on  the  right  side  "  of  them,  "  roved  ashore," 
and  found  "  Or-cBJi  (trackless  deserts),"  and  "  Strand-ir 
lang-ar  ok  sand-ar  (long  naiTow  beaches  and  sand-hills)," 
and  "called  the  shores I^urdu-stratid-ir  (Wonder-Strands), 
because  the  sailing  by  them  seemed  long." 

According  to  the  Icelandic  manuscripts,  Thorwald  was 
the  first  then,  —  unless  possibly  one  Biarne  Heriulfson 
(i.  e.  son  of  Heriulf )  who  had  been  seized  with  a  great 
desire  to  travel,  sailing  from  Iceland  to  Greenland  in  the 
year  986  to  join  his  father  who  had  migrated  thither,  for  ho 
had  resolved,  says  the  manuscript,  '•  to  spend  the  follow- 


230  CAPE  COD. 

ing  winter,  like  all  the  preceding  ones,  with  his  father," — 
being  driven  far  to  the  southwest  by  a  storm,  when  it 
cleared  up  saw  the  low  land  of  Cape  Cod  looming  faintly 
in  the  'distance  ;  but  this  not  answering  to  the  description 
of  Greenland,  he  put  his  vessel  about,  and,  sailing  north- 
ward along  the  coast,  at  length  reached  Greenland  and 
his  father.  At  any  rate,  he  may  put  forth  a  strong  claim 
to  be  regarded  as  the  discoverer  of  the  American  con- 
tinent. 

These  Northmen  were  a  hardy  race,  whose  younger 
sons  inherited  the  ocean,  and  traversed  it  without  chart 
or  compass,  and  they  are  said  to  have  been  "  the  first 
who  learned  the  art  of  sailing  on  a  wind."  Moreover, 
they  had  a  habit  of  casting  their  door-posts  overboard 
and  settling  wherever  they  went  ashore."  But  as  Biarne, 
and  Thorwald,  and  Thorfinn  have  not  mentioned  the 
latitude  and  longitude  distinctly  enough,  though  we  have 
great  respect  for  them  as  skilful  and  adventurous  navi- 
gators, we  must  for  the  present  remain  in  doubt  as  to 
what  capes  they  did  see.  We  think  that  they  were  con- 
siderably further  north.i 

If  time  and  space  permitted,  I  could  present  the 
claims  of  several  other  worthy  persons.  Lescarbot, 
in  1609,  asserts  that  the  French  sailors  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  frequent  the  Newfoundland  Banks  from  time 
immemorial,  "  for  the  codfish  with  which  they  feed  al- 
most all  Europe  and  supply  all  sea-going  vessels,"  and 
accordingly  "  the  language  of  the  nearest  lands  is  half 
Basque  " ;  and  he  quotes  Postel,  a  learned  but  extrava- 
gant French  author,  born  in  1510,  only  six  years  after 
the  Basques,  Bretons,  and  Normans  are  said  to  have 
discovered  the  Grand  Bank  and  adjacent  islands,  as 
saying,  in  his  Charte  Geograpiiique^  which  we  have  not 


PROVINCETOWN.  231 

seen :  ''  Terra  baec  ob  lucrosissimam  piscationis  utilita- 
tem  siimma  litterarura  memoria  a  Gallis  adiri  solita,  et 
ante  mille  sexcentos  annos  frequentari  solita  est;  sed 
eo  quod  sit  urbibus  inculta  et  vasta,  spreta  est."  "  This 
land,  on  account  of  its  very  lucrative  fishery,  was  accus- 
tomed to  be  visited  by  the  Gauls  from  the  very  dawn 
of  history,  and  more  than  sixteen  hundred  years  ago 
was  accustomed  to  be  frequented;  but  because  it  was 
unadorned  with  cities,  and  waste,  it  was  despised." 

It  is  the  old  story.  Bob  Smith  discovered  the  mine, 
but  I  discovered  it  to  the  world.  And  now  Bob  Smith 
is  putting  in  his  claim. 

But  let  us  not  laugh  at  Postel  and  his  visions.  He 
was  perhaps  better  posted  up  than  we ;  and  if  he  does 
seem  to  draw  the  long-bow,  it  may  be  because  he  had 
a  long  way  to  shoot,  —  quite  across  the  Atlantic.  If 
America  was  found  and  lost  again  once,  as  most  of  us 
believe,  then  why  not  twice  ?  especially  as  there  were 
likely  to  be  so  few  records  of  an  earlier  discovery. 
Consider  what  stuff  history  is  made  of,  —  that  for  the 
most  part  it  is  merely  a  story  agreed  on  by  posterity. 
Who  will  tell  us  even  how  many  Russians  were  en- 
gaged in  the  battle  of  the  Chemaya,  the  other  day? 
Yet  no  doubt  Mr.  Scriblerus,  the  historian,  will  fix  on 
a  definite  number  for  the  schoolboys  to  commit  to  their 
excellent  memories.  What,  then,  of  the  number  of  Per- 
sians at  Salamis  ?  The  historian  whom  I  read  knew  as 
much  about  the  position  of  the  parties  and  their  tactics 
in  the  last-mentioned  atfair,  as  they  who  describe  a 
recent  battle  in  an  article  for  the  press  now-a-days, 
before  the  particulars  have  arrived.  I  believe  that,  if  I 
were  to  live  the  life  of  mankind  over  again  myself, 
(which  I  would  not  be  hired  to  do,)  with  the  Universal 


282  CAPE  COD. 

History  in  mj  hands,  I  should  not  be  able  to  tell  what 
was  what. 

Earlier  than  the  date  Postel  refers  to,  at  any  rate, 
Cape  Cod  lay  in  utter  darkness  to  the  civilized  world, 
though  even  then  the  sun  rose  from  eastward  out  of  the 
sea  every  day,  and,  rolling  over  the  Cape,  went  down 
westward  into  the  Bay.  It  was  even  then  Cape  and 
Bay,  —  ay,  the  Cape  of  Codfish,  and  the  Bay  of  the 
Massachusetts,  perchance. 

Quite  recently,  on  the  11th  of  November,  1620,  old 
style,  as  is  well  known,  the  Pilgrims  in  the  Mayflower 
came  to  anchor  in  Cape  Cod  Harbor.  They  had  loosed 
from  Plymouth,  England,  the  6th  of  September,  and,  in 
the  words  of  "  Mourt's  Relation,"  "  after  many  difficul- 
ties in  boisterous  storms,  at  length,  by  God's  providence, 
upon  the  9th  of  November,  we  espied  land,  which  we 
deemed  to  be  Cape  Cod,  and  so  afterward  it  proved. 
Upon  the  11th  of  November  we  came  to  anchor  in  the 
bay,  which  is  a  good  harbor  and  pleasatit  bay,  circled 
round  except  in  the  entrance,  which  is  about  four  miles 
over  from  land  to  land,  compassed  about  to  the  very  sea 
with  oaks,  pines,  juniper,  sassafras,  and  other  sweet 
wood.  It  is  a  harbor  wherein  a  thousand  sail  of  ships 
may  safely  ride.  There  w^e  relieved  ourselves  with 
wood  and  water,  and  refreshed  our  people,  while  our 
shallop  was  fitted  to  coast  the  bay,  to  search*  for  an  habi- 
tation." There  we  put  up  at  Fuller's  Hotel,  passing  by 
the  Pilgrim  House  as  too  high  for  us  (we  learned  after- 
ward that  we  need  not  have  been  so  particular),  and  we 
refreshed  ourselves  with  hashed  fish  and  beans,  beside 
taking  in  a  supply  of  liquids  (which  were  not  intox- 
icating), while  our  legs  were  refitted  to  coast  the  back- 
side.    Further  say  the  Pilgrims :  ''  We  could  not  come 


PROVINCETOWN. 

near  the  shore  by  three  quarters  of  an  English  mile, 
because  of  shallow  water ;  which  was  a  great  prejudice 
to  us;  for  our  people  going  on  shore  were  forced  to 
wade  a  bow-shot  or  two  in  going  aland,  which  caused 
many  to  get  colds  and  coughs ;  for  it  was  many  times 
freezing  cold  weather."  They  afterwards  say :  "  It 
brought  much  weakness  amongst  us " ;  and  no  doubt  it 
led  to  the  death  of  some  at  Plymouth. 

The  harbor  of  Provincetown  is  very  shallow  near  the 
shore,  especially  about  the  head,  where  the  Pilgrims 
landed.  When  I  left  this  place  the  next  summer,  the 
steamer  could  not  get  up  to  the  wharf,  but  we  were 
carried  out  to  a  large  boat  in  a  cart  as  much  as  thirty 
rods  in  shallow  water,  while  a  troop  of  little  boys  kept 
us  company,  wading  around,  and  thence  we  pulled  to  the 
steamer  by  a  rope.  The  harbor  being  thus  shallow  and 
sandy  about  the  shore,  coasters  are  accustomed  to  run  in 
here  to  paint  their  vessels,  which  are  left  high  and  dry 
when  the  tide  goes  down. 

It  chanced  that  the  Sunday  morning  that  we  were 
there,  I  had  joined  a  party  of  men  who  were  smoking 
and  lolling  over  a  pile  of  boards  on  one  of  the  wharves, 
{nihil  humajium  a  me,  Sfc.,)  when  our  landlord,  who  was 
a  sort  of  tithing-man,  went  off  to  stop  some  sailors  who 
were  engaged  in  painting  their  vessel.  Our  party  was 
recruited  from  time  to  time  by  other  citizens,  who  came 
rubbing  their  ey^s  as  if  they  had  just  got  out  of  bed ; 
and  one  old  man  remarked  to  me  that  it  was  the  custom 
there  to  lie  abed  very  late  on  Sunday,  it  being  a  day  of 
rest.  I  remarked  that,  as  I  thought,  they  might  as  well 
let  the  man  paint,  for  all  us.  It  was  not  noisy  work,  and 
would  not  disturb  our  devotions.  But  a  young  man  in 
the  company,  taking  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth,  said  that 


234  CAPE  COD. 

it  was  a  plain  contradiction  of  the  law  of  God,  which  he 
quoted,  and  if  they  did  not  have  some  such  regulation, 
vessels  would  run  in  there  to  tar,  and  rig,  *and  paint, 
and  they  would  have  no  Sabbath  at  all.  This  was  a 
good  argument  enough,  if  he  had  not  put  it  in  the  name 
of  religion.  The  next  summer,  as  I  sat  on  a  hill  there 
one  sultry  Sunday  afternoon,  the  meeting-house  win- 
dows being  open,  my  meditations  were  interrupted  by 
the  noise  of  a  preacher  who  shouted  like  a  boatswain, 
profaning  the  quiet  atmosphere,  and  who,  I  fancied, 
must  have  taken  off  his  coat.  Few  things  could  have 
been  more  disgusting  or  disheartening.  I  wished  the 
ti thing-man  would  stop  him. 

The  Pilgrims  say :  "  There  was  the  greatest  store  of 
fowl  that  ever  we  saw." 

We  saw  no  fowl  there,  except  gulls  of  various  kinds ; 
but  the  greatest  store  of  them  that  ever  we  saw  was  on 
a  flat  but  slightly  covered  with  water  on  the  east  side  of 
the  harbor,  and  we  observed  a  man  who  had  landed 
there  from  a  boat  creeping  along  the  shore  in  order  to 
get  a  shot  at  them,  but  they  all  rose  and  flew  away  in  a 
great  scattering  flock,  too  soon  for  him,  having  appar- 
ently got  their  dinners,  though  he  did  not  get  his. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  Pilgrims  (or  their  reporter) 
describe  this  part  of  the  Cape,  not  only  as  well  wooded, 
but  as  having  a  deep  and  excellent  soil,  and  hardly  men- 
tion the  word  sand.  Now,  what  strikes  the  voyager  is 
the  barrenness  and  desolation  of  the  land.  They  found 
"  the  ground  or  earth  sand-hills,  much  like  the  downs  in 
Holland,  but  much  better ;  the  crust  of  the  earth,  a  spit's 
depth,  excellent  black  earth."  We  found  that  the  earth 
had  lost  its  crust,  —  if,  indeed,  it  ever  had  any,  —  and 
that  there  was  no  soil  to  speak  of.     We  did  not  see 


PROVINCETOWN.  235 

enough  black  earth  in  Provincetown  to  fill  a  flower-pot, 
unless  in  the  swamps.  They  found  it  "  all  wooded  with 
oaks,  pines,  sassafras,  juniper,  birch,  holly,  vines,  some 
ash,  walnut ;  the  wood  for  the  most  part  open  and  with- 
out underwood,  fit  either  to  go  or  ride  in."  We  saw 
scarcely  anything  high  enough  to  be  called  a  tree,  except 
a  little  low  wood  at  the  east  end  of  the  town,  and  the 
few  ornamental  trees  in  its  yard^,  —  only  a  few  small 
specimens  of  some  of  the  above  kinds  on  the  sand-hills 
in  the  rear ;  but  it  was  all  thick  shrubbery,  without  any 
large  wood  above  it,  very  unfit  either  to  go  or  ride  in. 
The  greater  part  of  the  land  was  a  perfect  desert  of 
yellow  sand,  rippled  like  waves  by  the  wind,  in  which 
only  a  little  Beach-grass  grew  here  and  there.  They 
say  that,  just  after  passing  the  head  of  East  Harbor 
Creek,  the  boughs  and  bushes  "  tore  **  their  "  very  armor 
in  pieces "  (the  same  thing  happened  to  such  armor  as 
we  wore,  when  out  of  curiosity  we  took  to  the  bushes)  ; 
or  they  came  to  deep  valleys,  "  full  of  brush,  wood-gaile, 
and  long  grass,"  and  '"  found  springs  of  fresh  water." 

For  the  most  part  we  saw  neither  bough  nor  bush,  not 
80  much  as  a  shrub  to  tear  our  clothes  against  if  we 
would,  and  a  sheep  would  lose  none  of  its  fleece,  even 
if  it  found  herbage  enough  to  make  fleece  grow  there. 
We  saw  rather  beach  and  poverty-grass,  and  merely 
sorrel  enough  to  color  the  surface.  I  suppose,  then,  by 
Wood-gaile  they  mean  the  Bayberry. 

All  accounts  agree  in  afiirming  that  this  part  of  the 
Cape  was  comparatively  well  wooded  a  century  ago. 
But  notwithstanding  the  great  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  these  respects,  I  cannot  but  think  that  we  must 
make  some  allowance  for  the  greenness  of  the  Pilgrims 
in  these  matters,  which  caused  them  to  see  green.     We 


236  CAPE  COD. 

do  not  believe  that  the  trees  were  large  or  the  soil  was 
deep  here.  Their  account  may  be  true  particularly,  but 
it  is  generally  false.  They  saw  literally,  as  well  as 
figuratirely,  but  one  side  of  the  Cape.  They  naturally 
exaggerated  the  fairness  and  attractiveness  of  the  land, 
for  they  were  glad  to  get  to  any  land  at  all  after  that 
anxious  voyage.  Everything  appeared  to  them  of  the 
color  of  the  rose,  and  had  the  scent  of  juniper  and  sassa- 
fras. Very  different  is  the  general  and  off-hand  account 
given  by  Captain  John  Smith,  who  was  on  this  coast  six 
years  earlier,  and  speaks  hke  an  old  traveller,  voyager, 
and  soldier,  who  had  seen  too  much  of  the  world  to 
exaggerate,  or  even  to  dwell  long,  on  a  part  of  it.  In 
his"  "  Description  of  New  England,"  printed  in  1616, 
after  speaking  of  Accomack,  since  called  Plymouth,  he 
says :  "  Cape  Cod  is  the  next  presents  itself,  which  is 
only  a  headland  of  high  hills  of  sand,  overgi'own  with 
shrubby  pines,  hurts  [i.  e.  whorts,  or  whortleberries], 
and  such  trash,  but  an  excellent  harbor  for  all  weath- 
ers. This  Cape  is  made  by  the  main  sea  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  great  bay  on  the  other,  in  form  of  a  sickle." 
Champlain  had  already  written,  ''  Which  we  named  Cap 
Blanc  (Cape  White),  because  they  were  sands  and  downs 
(sables  et  dunes)  which  appeared  thus." 

When  the  Pilgrims  get  to  Plymouth  their  reporter 
says  again,  "The  land  for  the  crust  of  the  eai-th  is  a, 
spit's  depth,"  —  that  would  seem  to  be  their  recipe  for  an 
earth's  crust, — "  excellent  black  mould  and  fat  in  some 
places."  However,  according  to  Bradford  himself,  whom 
some  consider  the  author  of  part  of  "  Mourt's  Relation," 
they  who  came  over  in  the  Fortune  the  next  year  were 
somewhat  daunted  when  "  they  came  into  the  harbor  of 
Cape  Cod,  and  there  saw  nothing  but  a  naked  and  barren 


PROVINCETOWN.  237 

place."  They  soon  found  out  their  mistake  with  re- 
spect to  the  goodness  of  Plymouth  soil.  Yet  when  at 
length,  some  years  later,  when  they  were  fully  satisfied 
of  the  poorness  of  the  place  which  they  had  chosen, 
"the  greater  part,"  says  Bradford,  "consented  to  a  re- 
moval to  a  place  called  Nausett,"  they  agreed  to  remove 
all  together  to  Nauset,  now  Eastham,  which  was  jump- 
ing out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire  ;  and  some  of 
the  most  respectable  of  the  inhabitiints  of  Plymouth  did 
actually  remove  thither  accordingly. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Pilgrims  possessed  but 
few  of  the  qualities  of  the  modern  pioneer.  They  were 
not  the  ancestors  of  the  American  backwoodsmen.  They 
did  not  go  at  once  into  the  woods  with  their  axes.  They 
were  a  family  and  church,  and  were  more  anxious  to 
keep  together,  though  it  were  on  the  sand,  than  to  ex- 
plore and  colonize  a  New  World.  When  the  above- 
mentioned  company  removed  to  Eastham,  the  church  at 
Plymouth  was  left,  to  use  Bradford's  expression,  "  like 
an  ancient  mother  grown  old,  and  forsaken  of  her  chil- 
dren." Though  they  landed  on  Clark's  Island  in  Ply- 
mouth harbor,  the  9th  "of  December  (O.  S.),  and  the 
16th  all  hands  came  to  Plymouth,  and  the  18th  they 
rambled  about  the  mainland,  and  the  19th  decided  to 
settle  there,  it  was  the  8th  of  January  before  Francis 
Billington  went  with  one  of  the  master's  mates  to  look 
at  the  magnificent  pond  or  lake  now  called  "  Billington 
Sea,"  about  two  miles  distant,  which  he  had  discovered 
from  the  top  of  a  tree,  and  mistook  for  a  great  sea.  And 
the  7th  of  March  "  Master  Carver  with  five  others  went 
to  the  great  ponds  which  seem  to  be  excellent  fishing," 
both  which  points  are  within  the  compass  of  an  ordinary 
afternoon's  ramble,  —  however  wild  the  country.     It  is 


238  CAPE  COD. 

true  they  were  busy  at  first  about  their  building,  and 
were  hindered  in  that  by  much  foul  weather ;  but  a  party 
of  emigrants  to  California  or  Oregon,  with  no  less  work 
on  their  hands,  —  and  more  hostile  Indians,  —  would  do 
as  much  exploring  the  first  afternoon,  and  the  Sieur  de 
Champlain  would  have  sought  an  interview  with  the 
savages,  and  examined  the  country  as  far  as  the  Connect- 
icut, and  made  a  map  of  it,  before  Billington  had  climbed 
his  tree.  Or  contrast  them  only  with  the  French  search- 
ing for  copper  about  the  Bay  of  Fundy  in  1603,  tracing 
up  small  streams  with  Indian  guides.  Nevertheless,  the 
Pilgrims  were  pioneers,  and  the  ancestors  of  pioneers,  in 
a  far  grander  enterprise. 

By  this  time  we  saw  the  little  steamer  Naushon  en- 
tering the  harbor,  and  heard  the  sound  of  her  whistle, 
and  came  down  from  the  hills  to  meet  her  at  the  wharf. 
So  we  took  leave  of  Cape  Cod  and  its  inhabitants.  We 
liked  the  manners  of  the  last,  what  little  we  saw  of  them, 
very  much.  They  were  particularly  downright  and 
good-humored.  The  old  people  appeared  remarkably 
well  preserved,  as  if  by  the  saltness  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  after  having  once  mistaken,  we  could  never  be  cer- 
tain whether  we  were  talking  to  a  coeval  of  our  grand- 
parents, or  to  one  of  our  own  age.  They  are  said  to  be 
more  purely  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  than  the  in- 
habitants of  any  other  part  of  the  State.  We  were  told 
that  "  sometimes,  when  the  court  comes  together  at  Barn- 
stable, they  have  not  a  single  criminal  to  try,  and  the 
jail  is  shut  up."  It  was  "  to  let "  when  we  were  there. 
Until  quite  recently  there  was  no  regular  lawyer  below 
Orleans.  Who  then  will  complain  of  a  few  regular  man- 
eating  sharks  along  the  back-side? 

One  of  the  ministers  of  Truro,  when  I  asked  what 


PROVINCETOWN.  239 

the  fishermen  did  in  the  winter,  answered  that  they  did 
nothing  but  go  a-visiting,  sit  about  and  tell  stories,  — 
though  they  worked  hard  in  summer.  Yet  it  is  not  a  long 
vacation  they  get.  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  not  been 
there  in  the  winter  to  hear  their  yarns.  Almost  every 
Cape  man  is  Captain  of  some  craft  or  other,  —  every 
man  at  least  who  is  at  the  head  of  his  own  affairs,  though 
it  is  not  every  one  that  is,  for  some  heads  have  the  force 
of  Alpha  privative,  negativing  all  the  efforts  which  Nature 
would  fain  make  through  them.  The  greater  number  of 
men  are  merely  corporals.  It  is  worth  the  while  to  talk 
with  one  whom  his  neighbors  address  as  Captain,  though 
his  craft  may  have  long  been  sunk,  and  he  may  be  hold- 
ing by  his  teeth  to  the  shattered  mast  of  a  pipe  alone, 
and  only  gets  half-seas-over  in  a  figurative  sense,  now. 
He  is  pretty  sure  to  vindicate  his  right  to  the  title  at 
last,  —  can  tell  one  or  two  good  stories  at  least. 

For  the  most  part  we  saw  only  the  back  side  of  the 
towns,  but  our  story  is  true  as  far  as  it  goes.  We  might 
have  made  more  of  the  Bay  side,  but  we  were  inclined 
to  open  our  eyes  widest  at  the  Atlantic.  We  did  not 
care  to  see  those  features  of  the  Cape  in  which  it  is  in- 
ferior or  merely  equal  to  the  mainland,  but  only  those 
in  which  it  is  peculiar  or  superior.  We  cannot  say  how 
its  towns  look  in  front  to  one  who  goes  to  meet  them  ; 
we  went  to  see  the  ocean  behind  them.  They  were 
merely  the  raft  on  which  we  stood,  and  we  took  notice 
of  the  barnacles  which  adhered  to  it,  and  some  carvings 
upon  it. 

Before  we  left  the  wharf  we  made  the  acquaintance  of 
a  passenger  whom  we  had  seen  at  the  hotel.  When  we 
asked  him  which  way  he  came  to  Provincetown,  he 
answered  that  he  was  cast  ashore  at  Wood  End,  Saturday 


240  CAPE  COD. 

night,  in  the  same  storm  in  which  the  St.  John  was 
wrecked.  He  had  been  at  work  as  a  carpenter  in  Maine, 
and  took  passage  for  Boston  in  a  schooner  laden  with 
lumber.  When  the  storm  came  on,  they  endeavored  to 
get  into  Provincetown  harbor.  "  It  was  dark  and  misty," 
said  he,  "  and  as  we  were  steering  for  Long  Point  Light 
wb  suddenly  saw  the  land  near  us,  —  for  our  compass 
was  out  of  order,  —  varied  several  degrees  [a  mariner 
always  casts  the  blame  on  his  compass],  —  but  there  be- 
ing a  mist  on  shore,  we  thought  it  was  farther  off  than 
it  was,  and  so  held  on,  and  we  immediately  struck  on  the 
bar.  Says  the  Captain,  'We  are  all  lost.'  Says  I  to 
the  Captain,  '  Now  don't  let  her  strike  again  this  way ; 
head  her  right  on.'  The  Captain  thought  a  moment, 
and  then  headed  her  on.  The  sea  washed  completely 
over  us,  and  wellnigh  took  the  breath  out  of  my  body. 
I  held  on  to  the  running  rigging,  but  I  have  learned  to 
hold  on  to  the  standing  rigging  the  next  time."  "  Well, 
were  there  any  drowned  ?  "  I  asked.  "  No  ;  we  all  got 
safe  to  a  house  at  Wood  End,  at  midnight,  wet  to  our 
skins,  and  half  frozen  to  death."  He  had  apparently 
spent  the  time  since  playing  checkers  at  the  hotel,  and 
was  congratulating  himself  on  having  beaten  a  tall  fellow- 
boarder  at  that  game.  "  The  vessel  is  to  be  sold  at 
auction  to-day,"  he  added.  (We  had  heard  the  sound 
of  the  crier's  bell  which  advertised  it.)  "  The  Captain  is 
rather  down  about  it,  but  I  tell  him  to  cheer  up  and  he 
will  soon  get  another  vessel." 

At  that  moment  the  Captain  called  to  him  from  the 
wharf.  He  looked  like  a  man  just  from  the  country, 
with  a  cap  made  of  a  woodchuck's  skin,  and  now  that  I 
had  heard  a  part  of  his  history,  he  appeared  singularly 
destitute,  —  a  Captain  without  any  vessel,  only  a  great- 


PBOVmCETOWN.  241 

coat !  and  that  perhaps  a  borrowed  one  !  Not  even  a 
dog  followed  him  ;  only  his  title  stuck  to  him.  I  also 
saw  one  of  the  crew.  They  all  had  caps  of  the  same 
pattern,  and  wore  a  subdued  look,  in  addition  to  their 
naturally  aquiline  features,  as  if  a  breaker  —  a  "  comb- 
er"—  had  washed  over  them.  As  we  passed  Wood  End, 
we  noticed  the  pile  of  lumber  on  the  shore  which  had 
made  the  cargo  of  their  vessel. 

About  Long  Point  in  the  summer  you  commonly  see 
them  catching  lobsters  for  the  New  York  market,  from 
small  boats  just  off  the  shore,  or  rather,  the  lobsters 
catch  themselves,  for  they  cling  to  the  netting  on  which 
the  bait  is  placed  of  their  own  accord,  and  thus  are 
drawn  up.  They  sell  them  fresh  for  two  cents  apiece. 
Man  needs  to  know  but  little  more  than  a  lobster  in 
order  to  catch  him  in  his  traps.  The  mackerel  fleet  had 
been  getting  to  sea,  one  after  another,  ever  since  mid- 
night, and  as  we  were  leaving  the  Cape  we  passed  near 
to  many  of  them  under  sail,  and  got  a  nearer  view  than 
we  had  had  ;  —  half  a  dozen  red-shirted  men  and  boys, 
leaning  over  the  rail  to  look  at  us,  the  skipper  shouting 
back  the  number  of  barrels  he  had  caught,  in  answer  to 
our  inquiry.  All  sailors  pause  to  watch  a  steamer,  and 
shout  in  welcome  or  derision.  In  one  a  large  Newfound- 
land dog  put  his  paws  on  the  rail  and  stood  up  as  high 
as  any  of  them,  and  looTced  as  wise.  But  the  skipper, 
who  did  not  wish  to  be  seen  no  better  employed  than  a 
dog,  rapped  him  on  the  nose  and  sent  him  below.  Such 
is  human  justice  !  I  thought  I  could  hear  him  making 
an  effective  appeal  down  there  from  human  to  divine 
justice.  He  must  have  had  much  the  cleanest  breast 
of  the  two. 

Still,  many  a  mile  behind  us  across  the  Bay,  we  saw 
11  p 


242  CAPE  COD. 

the  white  sails  of  the  mackerel  fishers  hovering  round 
Cape  Cod,  and  when  they  were  all  hull-down,  and  the 
low  extremity  of  the  Cape  was  also  down,  their  white 
sails  still  appeared  on  both  sides  of  it,  around  where  it 
had  sunk,  like  a  city  on  the  ocean,  proclaiming  the  rare 
qualities  of  Cape  Cod  Harbor.  But  before  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  Cape  had  completely  sunk,  it  appeared  like 
a  filmy  sliver  of  land  lying  flat  on  the  ocean,  and  later 
still  a  mere  reflection  of  a  sand-bar  on  the  haze  above. 
Its  name  suggests  a  homely  truth,  but  it  would  be  more 
poetic  if  it  described  the  impression  which  it  makes  on 
the  beholder.  Some  capes  have  peculiarly  suggestive 
names.  There  is  Cape  Wrath,  the  northwest  point  of 
Scotland,  for  instance  ;  what  a  good  name  for  a  cape 
lying  far  away  dark  over  the  water  under  a  lowering  sky ! 
Mild  as  it  was  on  shore  this  morning,  the  wind  was 
cold  and  piercing  on  the  water.  Though  it  be  the  hot- 
test day  in  July  on  land,  and  the  voyage  is  to  last  but 
four  hours,  take  your  thickest  clothes  with  you,  for  you 
are  about  to  float  over  melted  icebergs.  When  I  left 
Boston  in  the  steamboat  on  the  25th  of  June  the  next 
year,  it  was  a  quite  warm  day  on  shore.  The  pas- 
sengers were  dressed  in  their  thinnest  clothes,  and  at  first 
sat  under  their  umbrellas,  but  when  we  were  fairly  out 
on  the  Bay,  such  as  had  only  their  coats  were  suffering 
with  the  cold,  and  sought  the  slielter  of  the  pilot's  house 
-and  the  warmth  of  the  chimney.  But  when  we  ap- 
proached the  harbor  of  Province  town,  I  was  surprised 
to  perceive  what  an  influence  that  low  and  narrow  strip 
of  sand,  only  a  mile  or  two  in  width,  had  over  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  for  many  miles  around.  We  pene- 
trated into  a  sultry  atmosphere  where  our  thin  coats 
were  onco  more  in  fashion,  and  found  the  inhabitants 
swelterinff. 


PROVINCETOWN.  243 

Leaving  far  on  one  side  Manoraet  Point  in  Plymouth 
and  the  Scituate  shore,  after  being  out  of  sight  of  land 
for  an  hour  or  two,  for  it  was  rather  hazy,  we  neared 
the  Cohasset  Rocks  again  at  Minot's  Ledge,  and  saw  the 
great  Tupelo-tree  on  the  edge  of  Scituate,  which  lifts  its 
dome,  like  an  umbelliferous  plant,  high  over  the  surround- 
ing forest,  and  is  conspicuous  for  many  miles  over  land 
and  water.  Here  was  the  new  iron  light-house,  then 
unfinished,  in  the  shape  of  an  egg-shell  painted  red,  and 
placed  high  on  iron  pillars,  hke  the  ovum  of  a  sea  mon- 
ster floating  on  the  waves,  —  destined  to  be  phosphores- 
cent. As  we  passed  it  at  half-tide  we  saw  the  spray 
tossed  up  nearly  to  the  shell.  A  man  was  to  live  in  that 
egg-shell  day  and  night,  a  mile  from  the  shore.  When 
I  passed  it  the  next  summer  it  was  finished  and  two  men 
lived  in  it,  and  a  light-house  keeper  said  that  they  told 
him  that  in  a  recent  gale  it  had  rocked  so  as  to  shako 
the  plates  off  the  table.  Think  of  making  your  bed 
thus  in  the  crest  of  a  breaker !  To  have  the  waves,  like 
a  pack  of  hungry  wolves,  eying  you  always,  night  and 
day,  and  from  time  to  time  making  a  spring  at  you, 
almost  sure  to  have  you  at  last  And  not  one  of  all 
those  voyagers  can  come  to  your  relief,  —  but  when  yon 
light  goes  out,  it  will  be  a  sign  that  the  light  of  your  life 
has  gone  out  also.  What  a  place  to  compose  a  work  on 
breakers!  This  light-house  was  the  cynosure  of  all 
eyes.  Every  passenger  watched  it  for  half  an  hour  at 
least ;  yet  a  colored  cook  belonging  to  the  boat,  whom  I 
had  seen  come  out  of  his  quarters  several  times  to  empty 
his  dishes  over  the  side  with  a  flourish,  chancing  to  come 
out  just  as  we  were  abreast  of  this  light,  and  not  more 
than  forty  rods  from  it,  and  were  all  gazing  at  it,  as  he 
drew  back  his  arm,  caught  sight  of  it,  and  with  surprise 


244  CAPE  COD. 

exclaimed,  "  What 's  that  ?  "  He  had  been  employed  on 
this  boat  for  a  year,  and  passed  this  light  every  week- 
day, but  as  he  had  never  chanced  to  empty  his  dishes 
just  at  that  point,  had  never  seen  it  before.  To  look  at 
lighta  was  the  pilot's  business;  he  minded  the  kitchen 
fire.  It  suggested  how  little  some  who  voyaged  round 
the  world  could  manage  to  see.  You  would  almost  as 
easily  believe  that  there  are  men  who  never  yet  chanced 
to  come  out  at  the  right  time  to  see  the  sun.  "What 
avails  it  though  a  light  be  placed  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  if 
you  spend  all  your  life  directly  under  the  hill  ?  It  might 
as  well  be  under  a  bushel.  This  light-house,  as  is  well 
known,  was  swept  away  in  a  storm  in  April,  1851,  and 
the  two  men  in  it,  and  the  next  morning  not  a  vestige  of 
it  was  to  be  seen  from  the  shore. 

A  Hull  man  told  me  that  he  helped  set  up  a  white- 
oak  pole  on  Minot's  Ledge  some  years  before.  It  was 
fifteen  inches  in  diameter,  forty-one  feet  high,  sunk  four 
feet  in  the  rock,  and  was  secured  by  four  guys,  —  but  it 
stood  only  one  year.  Stone  piled  up  cob-fashion  near 
the  same  place  stood  eight  years. 

When  I  crossed  the  Bay  in  the  Melrose  in  July,  we 
hugged  the  Scitua,te  shore  as  long  as  possible,  in  order 
to  take  advantage  of  the  wind.  Far  out  on  the  Bay 
(off  this  shore)  we  scared  up  a  brood  of  young  ducks, 
probably  black  ones,  bred  hereabouts,  which  the  packet 
had  frequently  disturbed  in  her  trips.  A  townsman,  who 
was  making  the  voyage  for  the  first  time,  walked  slowly 
round  into  the  rear  of  the  helmsman,  when  we  were  in 
the  middle  of  the  Bay,  and  looking  out  over  the  sea, 
before  he  sat  down  there,  remarked  with  as  much  origi- 
nality as  was  possible  for  one  who  used  a  borrowed 
expression,  "This  is  a  great  country."     He  had  been 


PROVmCETOWN.  245 

a  timber  merchant,  and  I  afterward  saw  liim  taking  the 
diameter  of  the  mainmast  with  his  stick,  and  estimating 
its  height.  I  returned  from  the  same  excursion  in  the 
Olata,  a  very  handsome  and  swift-saihng  yacht,  which 
left  Provincetown  at  the  same  time  with  two  other 
packets,  the  Melrose  and  Frolic.  At  first  there  was 
scarcely  a  breath  of  air  stirring,  and  we  loitered  about 
Long  Point  for  an  hour  in  company,  —  with  our  heads 
over  the  rail  watching  the  great  sand-circles  and  the 
fishes  at  the  bottom  in  calm  water  fifteen  feet  deep. 
But  after  clearing  the  Cape  we  rigged  a  flying-jib,  and, 
as  the  Captain  had  prophesied,  soon  showed  our  consorts 
our  heels.  There  was  a  steamer  six  or  eight  miles 
northward,  near  the  Cape,  towing  a  large  ship  toward 
Boston.  Its  smoke  stretched  perfectly  horizontal  several 
miles  over  the  sea,  and  by  a  sudden  change  in  its  direc- 
tion, warned  us  of  a  change  in  the  wind  before  we  felt 
it  The  steamer  appeared  very  far  from  the  ship,  and 
some  young  men  who  had  frequently  used  the  Captain's 
glass,  but  did  not  suspect  that  the  vessels  were  connected, 
expressed  surprise  that  they  kept  about  the  same  dis- 
tance apart  for  so  many  hours.  At  which  the  Captain 
dryly  remarked,  that  probably  they  would  never  get  any 
nearer  together.  As  long  as  the  wind  held  we  kept 
pace  with  the  steamer,  but  at  length  it  died  away  almost 
entirely,  and  the  flying-jib  did  all  the  work.  When  we 
passed  the  light-boat  at  Minot's  Ledge,  the  Melrose  and 
Frolic  were  just  visible  ten  milesastern. 

Consider  the  islands  bearing  the  names  of  all  the 
saints,  bristling  with  forts  like  chestnut-burs,  or  echini- 
dcBj  yet  the  police  will  not  let  a  couple  of  Irislimen  have 
a  private  sparring-match  on  one  of  them,  as  it  is  a  gov- 
ernment monopoly ;  all  the  great  seaports  are  in  a  box- 


246  CAPE  COD. 

ing  attitude,  and  you  must  sail  prudently  between  two 
tiers  of  stony  knuckles  before  you  come  to  feel  the 
warmth  of  their  breasts. 

The  Bermudas  are  said  to  have  been  discovered  by  a 
Spanish  ship  of  that  name  which  was  wrecked  on  them, 
"  which  till  then,"  says  Sir  John  Smith,  "  for  six  thou- 
sand years  had  been  nameless."  The  English  did  not 
stumble  upon  them  in  their  first  voyages  to  Virginia; 
and  the  first  Englishman  who  was  ever  there  was  wrecked 
on  them  in  1593.  Smith  says,  "No  place  known  hath 
better  walls  nor  a  broader  ditch."  Yet  at  the  very  first 
planting  of  them  with  some  sixty  persons,  in  1612,  the 
first  Governor,  the  same  year,  "  built  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  eight  or  nine  forts."  To  be  ready,  one  would 
say,  to  entertain  the  first  ship's  company  that  should  be 
next  shipwrecked  on  to  them.  It  would  have  been 
more  sensible  to  have  built  as  many  "  Charity-houses." 
These  are  the  vexed  Bermoothees. 

Our  great  sails  caught  all  the  air  there  was,  and  our 
low  and  narrow  hull  caused  the  least  possible  friction. 
Coming  up  the  harbor  against  the  stream  we  swept  by 
everything.  Some  young  men  returning  from  a  fishing 
excursion  came  to  the  side  of  their  smack,  while  we 
were  thus  steadily  drawing  by  them,  and,  bowing,  ob- 
served, with  the  best  possible  grace,  "  We  give  it  up." 
Yet  sometimes  we  were  nearly  at  a  stand-still.  The 
sailors  watched  (two)  objects  on  the  shore  to  ascertain 
whether  we  advanced'  or  receded.  In  the  harbor  it 
was  like  the  evening  of  a  holiday.  The  Eastern  steam- 
boat passed  us  with  music  and  a  cheer,  as  if  they  were 

going  to  a  ball,  when  they  migKt  be  going  to Davy's 

locker. 

I  heard  a  boy  telling  the  story  of  Nix's  mate  to  some 


PKOVINCETOWN.  247 

girls  as  we  passed  that  spot.  That  was  the  name  of  a 
sailor  hung  there,  he  said.  —  "If  I  am  guilty,  this  island 
will  remain ;  but  if  I  am  innocent,  it  will  be  washed 
away,"  and  now  it  is  all  washed  away ! 

Next  (?)  came  the  fort  on  George's  Island.  These 
are  bungling  contrivances :  not  o\ir  fortes,  hut  out  foibles. 
Wolfe  sailed  by  the  strongest  fort  in  North  America  in 
the  dark,  and  took  it. 

I  admired  the  skill  with  which  the  vessel  was  at  last 
brought  to  her  place  in  the  dock,  near  the  end  of  Long 
Wharf.  It  was  candle-light,  and  my  eyes  could  not  dis- 
tinguish the  wharves  jutting  out  toward  us,  but  it  ap- 
peared like  an  even  line  of  shore  densely  crowded  with 
shipping.  You  could  not  have  guessed  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  Long  Wharf.  Nevertheless,  we  were  to 
be  blown  to  a  crevice  amid  them,  —  steering  right  into 
the  maze.  Down  goes  the  mainsail,  and  only  the  jib 
draws  us  along.  Now  we  are  within  four  rods  of  the 
shipping,  having  already  dodged  several  outsiders ;  but 
it  is  still  only  a  maze  of  spars,  and  rigging,  and  hulls, 
—  not  a  crack  can  be  seen.  Down  goes  the  jib,  but  still 
we  advance.  The  Captain  stands  aft  with  one  hand  on 
the  tiller,  and  the  other  holding  his  night-glass,  —  his 
son  stands  on  the  bowsprit  straining  his  eyes,  —  the  pas- 
sengers feel  their  hearts  hal*-way  to  their  mouths,  ex- 
pecting a  crash.  "  Do  you  see  any  room  there  ?  "  asks 
the  Captain,  quietly.  He  must  make  up  his  mind  in 
five  seconds,  else  he  will  carry  away  that  vessel's  bow- 
sprit, or  lose  his  own.  "  Yes,  sir,  here  is  a  place  for 
us " ;  and  in  three  minutes  more  we  are  fast  to  the 
wharf  in  a  little  gap  between  two  bigger  vessels. 

And  now  we  were  in  Boston.  Whoever  has  been 
down  to  the  end  of  Long  Wharf,  and  walked  through 
Quincy  Market,  has  seen  Boston. 


248  CAPE  COD. 

Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Charleston,  New 
Orleans,  and  the  /est,  are  the  names  of  wharves  project- 
ing into  the  sea  (surrounded  by  the  shops  and  dwellings 
of  the  merchants),  good  places  to  take  in  and  to  dis- 
charge a  cargo  (to  land  the  products  of  other  climes  and 
load  the  exports  of  our  own).  I  see  a  great  many  bar- 
rels and  fig-drums,  —  piles  of  wood  for  umbrella-sticks, 
—  blocks  of  granite  and  ice,  —  great  heaps  of  goods, 
and  the  means  of  packing  and  conveying  them,  —  much 
wrapping-paper  and  twine,  —  many  crates  and  hogsheads 
and  trucks,  —  and  that  is  Boston.  The  more  barrels, 
the  more  Boston.  The  museums  and  scientific  societies 
and  libraries  are  accidental.  They  gather  around  the 
sands  to  save  carting.  The  wharf-rats  and  custom-house 
officers,  and  broken-down  poets,  seeking  a  fortune  amid 
the  barrels.  Their  better  or  worse  lyceums,  and  preach- 
ings, and  doctorings,  these,  too,  are  accidental,  and  the 
malls  of  commons  are  always  small  potatoes.  When  I 
go  to  Boston,  I  naturally  go  straight  through  the  city 
(taking  the  Market  in  my  way),  down  to  the  end  of  Long 
"Wharf,  and  look  off,  for  I  have  no  cousins  in  the  back 
alleys,  —  and  there  I  see  a  great  many  countrymen  in 
their  shirt-sleeves  from  Maine,  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
all  along  shore  and  in  shore,  and  some  foreigners  beside, 
loading  and  unloading  and  steering  their  teams  about,  as 
at  a  country  fair. 

When  we  reached  Boston  that  October,  I  had  a  gill 
of  Provincetown  sand  in  my  shoes,  and  at  Concord  there 
was  still  enough  left  to  sand  my  pages  for  many  a  day  ; 
and  I  seemed  to  hear  the  sea  roar,  as  if  I  lived  in  a 
shell,  for  a  week  afterward. 

The  places  which  I  have  described  may  seem  strange 
and  remote  to  my  townsmen,  —  indeed,  from  Boston  to 


PROVINCETOWN.  249 

Provincetown  is  twice  as  far  as  from  England  to  France ; 
yet  step  into  the  cars,  and  in  six  hours  you  may  stand 
on  those  four  planks,  and  see  the  Cape  w  hich  Gosnold 
is  said  to  have  discovered,  and  which  I  have  so  poorly 
described.  If  you  had  started  when  I  first  advised  you, 
you  might  have  seen  our  tracks  in  the  sand,  still  fresh, 
and  reaching  all  the' way  from  the  Nauset  Lights  to 
Race  Point,  some  thirty  miles,  —  for  at  every  step  we 
made  an  impression  on  the  Cape,  though  we  were  not 
aware  of  it,  and  though  our  account  may  have  made  no 
impression  on  your  minds.  But  what  is  our  account  ? 
In  it  there  is  no  roar,  no  beach-birds,  no  tow-cloth. 

We  often  love  to  think  now  of  the  life  of  men  on 
beaches,  —  at  least  in  midsummer,  when  the  weather  is 
serene ;  their  sunny  lives  on  the  sand,  amid  the  beach- 
grass  and  the  bayberries,  their  companion  a  cow,  theii* 
wealth  a  jag  of  drift-wood  or  a  few  beach-plums,  and 
their  music  the  surf  and  the  peep  of  the  beach-bird. 

We  went  to  see  the  Ocean,  and  that  is  probably  the 
best  place  of  all  our  coast  to  go  to.  If  you  go  by  water, 
you  may  experience  what  it  is  to  leave  and  to  approach 
these  shores ;  you  may  see  the  Stormy  Petrel  by  the 
way,  6d\a(ra-o8p6fuif  running  over  the  sea,  and  if  the 
weather  is  but  a  little  thick,  may  lose  sight  of  the  land 
in  mid-passage.  I  do  not  know  where  there  is  another 
beach  in  the  Atlantic  States,  attached  to  the  mainland, 
so  long,  and  at  the  same  time  so  straight,  and  completely 
uninterrupted  by  creeks  or  coves  or  fresh-water  rivers  or 
marshes ;  for  though  there  may  be  clear  places  on  the 
map,  they  would  probably  be  found  by  the  foot  traveller 
to  be  intersected  by  creeks  and  marshes ;  certainly  there 
is  none  where  there  is  a  double  way,  such  as  I  have 
described,  a  beach  and  a  bank,  which  at  the  same  time 


250  CAPE  cDd. 

shows  you  the  land  and  the  sea,  and  part  of  the  time 
two  seas.  The  Great  South  Beach  of  Long  Island, 
which  I  have  since  visited,  is  longer  still  without  an  in- 
let, but  it  is  literally  a  mere  sand-bar,  exposed,  several 
miles  from  the  Island,  and  not  the  edge  of  a  continent 
wasting  before  the  assaults  of  the  ocean.  Though  wild 
and  desolate,  as  it  wants  the  bold  bank,  it  possesses  but 
half  the  grandeur  of  Cape  Cod  in  my  eyes,  nor  is  the 
imagination  contented  with  its  southern  aspect.  The 
only  other  beaches  of  great  length  on  our  Atlantic  coast, 
which  I  have  heard  sailors  speak  of,  are  those  of  Bar- 
negat  on  the  Jersey  shore,  and  Currituck  between  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina ;  but  these,  like  the  last,  are 
low  and  narrow  sand-bars,  lying  off  the  coast,  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  mainland  by  lagoons.  Besides,  as  you  go 
farther  south  the  tides  are  feebler,  and  cease  to  add 
variety  and  grandeur  to  the  shore.  On  the  Pacific 
side  of  our  country  also  no  doubt  there  is  good  walking 
to  be  found  ;  a  recent  writer  and  dweller  there  tells  us 
that  "  the  coast  from  Cape  Disappointment  (or  the  Colum- 
bia River)  to  Cape  Flattery  (at  the  Strait  of  Juan  de 
Fuca)  is  nearly  north  and  south,  and  can  be  travelled 
almost  its  entire  length  on  a  beautiful  sand-beach,"  with 
the  exception  of  two  bays,  four  or  five  rivers,  and  a  few 
points  jutting  into  the  sea.  The  common  shell-fish  found 
there  seem  to  be  often  of  corresponding  types,  if  not 
identical  species,  with  those  of  Cape  Cod.  The  beach 
which  I  have  described,  however,  is  not  hard  enough 
for  carriages,  but  must  be  explored  on  foot.  When  one 
carriage  has  passed  along,  a  following  one  sinks  deeper 
still  in  its  rut.  It  has  at  present  no  name  any  more 
than  fame.  That  portion  south  of  Nauset  Harbor  is 
commonly  called  Chatham  Beach.     The  part  in  East- 


PROVINCETOWN.  251 

ham  is  called  Nauset  Beach,  and  off  Wellfleet  and  Truro 
the  Backside,  or  sometimes,  perhaps.  Cape  Cod  Beach. 
I  think  that  part  which  extends  without  interruption 
from  Nauset  Harbor  to  Race  Point  should  be  called 
Cape  Cod  Beach,  and  do  so  speak  of  it. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  points  for  visitors  is  in 
the  northeast  part  of  Wellfleet,  where  accommodations 
(I  mean  for  men  and  women  of  tolerable  health  and 
habits)  could  probably  be  had  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
sea-shore.  It  best  combines  the  country  and  the  sea- 
side. Though  the  Ocean  is  out  of  sight,  its  faintest  mur- 
mur is  audible,  and  you  have  only  to  climb  a  hill  to  find 
yourself  on  its  brink.  It  is  but  a  step  from  the  glassy 
surface  of  the  Herring  Ponds  to  the  big  Atlantic  Pond 
where  the  waves  never  cease  to  break.  Or  perhaps  the 
Highland  Light  in  Truro  may  compete  with  this  locality, 
for  there  there  is  a  more  uninterrupted  view  of  the 
Ocean  and  the  Bay,  and  in  the  summer  there  is  always 
some  air  stirring  on  the  edge  of  the  bank  there,  so  that 
the  inhabitants  know  not  what  hot  wealher  is.  As  for 
the  view,  the  keeper  of  the  .light,  with  one  or  more  of 
his  family,  walks  out  to  the  edge  of  the  bank  after  every 
meal  to  look  off,  just  as  if  they  had  not  lived  there  all 
their  days.  In  short,  it  will  wear  well.  And  what  pic- 
ture will  you  substitute  for  that,  upon  your  walls  F^^-But 
ladies  cannot  get  down  the  bank  there  at  present  without 
the  aid  of  a  block  and  tackle. 

Most  persons  visit  the  sea-side  in  warm  weather, 
when  fogs  are  frequent,  and  the  atmosphere  is  wont  to 
be  thick,  and  the  charm  of  the  sea  is  to  some  extent  lost. 
But  I  suspect  that  the  fall  is  the  best  season,  for  then  the 
atmosphere  is  more  transparent,  and  it  is  a  greater 
pleasure  to  look  out  over  the  sea.     The  clear  and  bracing 


252  CAPE  COD. 

air,  and  the  storms  of  autumn  and  winter  even,  are  ne- 
cessary in  ordci-  that  we  may  get  the  impression  which 
the  sea  is  calculated  to  make.  In  October,  when  the 
weather  is  not  intolerably  cold,  and  the  landscape  wears 
its  autumnal  tints,  such  as,  methinks,  only  a  Cape  Cod 
landscape  ever  wears,  especially  if  you  have  a  storm 
during  your  stay,  —  that  I  am  convinced  is  the  best  time 
to  visit  this  shore.  In  autumn,  even  in  August,  the 
thoughtful  days  begin,  and  we  can  walk  anywhere  with 
profit.  Beside,  an  outward  cold  and  dreariness,  which 
make  it  necessary  to  seek  shelter  at  night,  lend  a  spirit 
of  adventure  to  a  walk. 

The  time  must  come  when  this  coast  will  be  a  place 
of  resort  for  those  New-Englanders  who  really  wish  to 
visit  the  sea-side.  At  present  it  is  wholly  unknown  to 
the  fashionable  world,  and  probaJbly  it  will  never  be 
agreeable  to  them.  If  it  is  merely  a  ten-pin  alley,  or  a 
circular  railway,  or  an  ocean  of  mint-julep,  that  the 
visitor  is  in  search  of,  —  if  he  thinks  more  of  the  wine 
than  the  brine,  as  I  suspect  some  do  at  Newport, — I  trust 
that  for  a  long  time  he  will  be  disappointed  here.  But 
this  shore  will  never  be  more  attractive  than  it  is  now. 
Such  beaches  as  are  fashionable  are  here  made  and  un- 
made in  a  day,  I  may  almost  say,  by  the  sea  shifting  its 
sands.  Lynn  and  Nantasket !  this  bare  and  bended  arm 
it  is  that  makes  the  bay  in  which  they  lie  so  snugly. 
What  are  springs  and  waterfalls  ?  Here  is  the  spring 
of  springs,  the  waterfall  of  waterfalls.  A  storm  in  the 
fall  or  winter  is  the  time  to  visit  it ;  a  light-house  or  a 
fisherman's  hut  the  true  hotel.  A  man  may  stand  there 
and  put  all  America  behind  him. 

Cambridge  :  Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Ca 


135  ej^asljfitflton  St.,  aSoston, 
Decembeb,  1864. 


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1  vol.    16mo.    75  cts. 
The   Panorama,  and  other  Poems.     1  vol. 


16mo.    75  cts. 

Home  Ballads  and  Poems.     1  vol.     16mo. 


81.00. 

Old  Portraits  and  Modem  Sketches.     1  vol. 


16mo.    91.25. 

Leaves  from  Margaret  Smith's  Journal  in  the 


Province  of  Massachusetti,  Bay,  1678-9.    1  vol.    16mo.     S  1.25. 

Literary  Recreations  and  Miscellanies.    1  vol. 


16mo.     $  1.50. 

WILLIAMS'S  (Henry  W.,  M.  D.)  A  Practical   Guide  to 

the  Study  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Eye.    1  voL    12mo.-   $  2.00. 

WINTHROP'S  (Robert  C.)  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Win- 

throp.    1  vol.    8vo.    With  Portraits  and  Woodcuts.    $  3.00. 

WINTHROP'S  (Theodore)   Cecil  Dreeme.     With  Bio- 
graphical Sketch  by  Qborgb  William  Curtis.    1  vol.    16mo.    S  1.50, 

John  Brent     1vol.     16mo.     $1.50. 

Edwin  Brothertoft.     1  vol.     16mo.    $  1.50. 

The  Canoe  and  the  Saddle.     1  vol.     16mo. 

$  1.50. 

Life  in  the  Open  Air,  and  other  Papers. 


With  Portrait  on  Steel,  and  an  Engraving  of  Mt.  Katahdin  from  a 
Sketch  by  F.  E.  Church.    1  vol.    16mo.    $  1.50. 

WORDSWORTH'S  (Christopher)  Memoirs  of  William 

Wordsworth,  Poet  Laureate,  D.  C.  L.    Edited  by  Hknry  Eeed.    2  vols. 
16mo.    $3.00. 

ZSCHOKKE'S  Meditations  on  Death  and  Etemit)-.    Trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  Frederica  Rowan.    1  vol.    12mo.    $  1.50. 

Meditations  on  Life  and  its  Religious  Duties. 

Translated  from  the  German  by  Frederica  Rowan.  1  vol.  12mo.  $  1.60. 


22  List  of  Books  Published  by 

BOOKS  PUBLISHED  IN  BLUE  AND  GOLD, 

BY 

TIOKNOR     AND  ^FIELDS. 


Longfellow's  Poems.     2  vols.     $3.00. 

Longfellow's  Prose.     2  vols.     $3.00. 

Whittier's  Poems.     2  vols.     $3.00. 

Leigh  Hunt's  Poems.     2  vols.     $  3.00. 

Tennyson's  Poems.     2  vols.     $  3.00. 

Gerald  Massey's  Poems.     $  1.50. 

Lowell's  Poems.     2  vols.     $3.00. 

Percival's  Poems.     2  vols.    $  3.00. 

Motherwell's  Poems,     $  1.50. 

Owen  Meredith's  Poems.     2  vols.     $  3.00. 

Owen  Meredith's  Lucile.    $1.50. 

Sydney  Dobell's  Poems.     $  1.50. 

Bowring's  Matins  and  Vespers.     $  1.50. 

Allingham's  Poems.     $1.50. 

Horace.    Translated  by  Theodore  Martin.    $1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Characteristics  of  Women.     $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Loves  of  the  Poets.     $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Diary.     $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Sketches  of  Art,    $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Ja7neson's  Legends  of  the  Madonna.     $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Italian  Painters.     $  1.50. 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Studies  and  Stories.     $  1.50. 

Saxe's  Poems.     $1.50. 

Clough's  Poems.     $  1.50. 

Holmes's  Poems.     $  1.50. 

Adelaide  Procter's  Poems.    $  1.50. 

TayWs  Philip  Van  Artevelde.     $1.50. 

Irving's  Sketch-Book.    $  1.50. 


Tichior  and  Fields.  23 


CABINET  EDITIONS   OF  THE  POETS. 

Messrs.  Ticknor  and  Fields  are  publishing  a  new 
edition  of  the  writings  of  popular  Poets,  called  the  Cabinet 
Edition.  It  is  handsomely  printed  on  laid  tinted  paper,  and 
elegantly  bound  in  vellum  cloth  with  gilt  top.  The  following 
are  now  published  :  — 

Longfellow's  Poems.     2  vols.     $  4.00. 
Tennyson's  Poems.     2  vols.     S  4.00. 
Whittier*s  Poems.     2  vols.     $  4.00. 
Holmes's  Poems.     1  vol.    $  2.00. 
Saxe's  Poems.     1  vol.     $  2.00. 
LoweWs  Poems.     2  vols.     S  4.00. 
Lon^ellow's  Prose  Works.     2  vols.    $  4.00. 
Adelaide  Procter's  Poems.     1  vol.     $  2.00. 


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